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Copyright hr Uadorwe*i A Underwood. N. T. 

OAPT. ROSTRON 

Of the Carpathian whose ship brought the survivors of Titanic, 
after rescuing them, to New York 








COL. JOHN JACOB ASTOR CAPT. E. J. SMITH 

A multi-millionaire hero who sacrificed his life in behalf of his The Commander of the Titanic, who went down with his ship 
wife and the women and children aboard the vessel 














SINKING of the 

TITANIC 

World’s Greatest Sea Disaster 


A Graphic and Thrilling Account of the Sinking 
of the greatest Floating Palace ever huilt, carrying 
down to watery graves more than 1,500 souls. :: 

Giving Exciting Escapes from death and acts of 
hepoism not equalled in ancient or modern times, 
told by 

THE SURVIVORS 

Including History of Icebergs, the Terror of the 
Seas; Wireless Telegraphy and Modern Shipbuilding 

EDITED BY 

THOMAS H. RUSSELL, A. M., LL. D. 

AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST 

Formerly of the General Register Office 
of Shipping and Seamen 

special articles by 

FRED S. MILLER 

THE GREAT DISCRIPTIYE WRITER 
Special Introduction. “Women and Children First,” by 

REV. HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D. 

ILLUSTRATED THROUGHOUT WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 
AND DRAWINGS MADE EXPRESSLY FOR THIS BOOK 


NATIONAL BIBLE HOUSE 

633 PLYMOUTH PLACE, CHICAGO 
























Copyright, 1912, by L. H. Walter 


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INTRODUCTION 


“WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST!” 

BY 

Rev. Henry Van Dyke, D.D., LL.D. 

The Titanic, greatest of ships, has gone to her ocean grave. 
What has she left behind her? Think clearly. 

She has left losses. Valuable lives and large amounts of 
property have been buried in the sea. Some of them are covered 
by insurance which will be paid. The rest is gone. All wealth is 
insecure. : ; 

She has left lessons. The risk of running at high speed on 
the northern course when it is menaced by icebergs is revealed. 
The cruelty of sending a ship to sea without enough lifeboats and 
liferafts to hold her company is exhibited and underlined in 
black. 

She has left sorrows. Hundreds of human hearts and homes 
are in mourning for the loss of dear companions and friends. The 
universal sympathy which is written in every face and heard in 
every voice proves that man is more than the beasts that perish. 
It is an evidence of the divine in humanity. Why do we care? 
There is no reason in the world, unless there is something in us 
that is different from lime and carbon and phosphorus, something 
that makes us mortals able to suffer together— 

“For we have all of us one human heart.” 

But there is more than this harvest of losses, and lessons, and 
sorrows, in the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. There is 
a great ideal. It is clearly outlined and set before the mind and 
heart of the modern world, to approve and follow, or to despise 
and reject. 


3 


4 


INTRODUCTION 


It is, ‘‘Women and children first!” 

Whatever happened on that dreadful April night among the 
arctic ice, certainly that was the order given by the brave Cap¬ 
tain; certainly that was the law obeyed by all the true men 
on the doomed ship. But why? There is no statute or enact¬ 
ment of any nation to enforce such an order. There is no trace 
of such a rule to be found in the history of ancient civilizations. 
There is no authority for it among the heathen races today. On 
a Chinese ship, if we may believe the report of an official repre¬ 
sentative, the rule would have been “Men first, children next, and 
women last.” 

There is certainly no argument against this barbaric rule on 
physical or material grounds. On the average, a man is stronger 
than a woman, he is worth more in the labor market than a 
woman, he has a longer prospect of life than a woman. There is 
no reason in all the range of physical and economic science, no 
reason in all the philosophy of the Superman, why he should 
give his place in th^ lifeboat to a woman. 

Where, then, does this rule which prevailed on the sinking 
Titanic come from? It comes from God, through His prophets, 
and most clearly through the faith of Jesus of Nazareth. 

It is the ideal of self-sacrifice. It is the ideal of the suffering 
Messiah. It is the rule that “the strong ought to bear the infirmi¬ 
ties of those that are weak.” It is the divine revelation which is 
summed up in the words: “Greater love hath no man than this, 
that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 

It needs a tragic catastrophe like the wreck of the Titanic to 
bring out the absolute contradiction between this ideal and all the 
counsels of materialism and selfish expediency. 

I do not say that the germ of this ideal may not be found in 
other religions. I do not say that they are against it. I do not 
ask any man to accept my theology, (which grows shorter and 
simpler as I grow older), unless his heart leads him to it. But 
this I say: The ideal that the strength of the strong is given 
them to protect and save the weak, the ideal which animates the 
rule of “Women and children first,” is in essential harmony with 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


the spirit of Christ. Every man on the Titanic, Hebrew or Chris^ 
tian, or nameless believer, who followed this ideal,—yes, and aU 
the women who gave up .their chance of life for love’s sake,—had 
in them “the same mind which was in Christ Jesus,” and 
belonged among His friends. 

If what the Bible says about our Father in Heaven is true, 
this ideal is supremely reasonable. Otherwise it is hard to find 
arguments for it. The tragedy of facts sets the question clearly 
before us. Think about it. Is this ideal to survive and prevail 
in our civilization or not ? 

Without it, no doubt, we may have riches and power and 
dominion. But what a world to live in! 

Only through the belief that the strong are bound to protect 
and save the weak because God wills it so, can we hope to keep 
self-sacrifice, and love, and heroism, and all the things that make 
us glad to live and not afraid to die. 

Princeton, N. J., May 13, 1912. 



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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 


Preface ... 

I The Two Titans. 11 

II Story of the Titanic. 19 

III Spur of Iceberg Ripped Open Bot¬ 

tom of Titanic. 27 

IV Thrilling Story of the Wreck. .. 34 

V Rescue of the Survivors. 44 

VI Survivors Reach New York. ... ^. 55 

VII Last Man Off Tells Horrors of 

Shipwreck. 59 

VIII Heroism on the Titanic. 67 

IX Thrilling Experiences of Sur¬ 
vivors . 73 

X Sorrow and Honor and Memory 

Equal. 91 

“Nearer, My God, to Tiiee”. 94 

XI The Responsibility for Fatal 

Speed .. • 96 

XII Other Contributing Causes of the 

Disaster. 99 

XIII More of the Tragedy. 103 

7 
















i CONTENTS 


8 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIV Oddities of the Wreck. 107 

Hymn* for Survivors of the Ti¬ 
tanic, By Hall Caine . 110 

XV The Terror of the Seas, By Fred S . 

Miller . I'll 

XVI Heroes at the Post of Duty. 119 

XVII W. T. Stead, Scholar, Dreamer 

and Humanitarian. 127 

XVIII Man y Memorials for Titanic Trag¬ 
edy . 183 

XIX Stories of the Rescued. 155 

XX Survivors’ Stories Continued. 173 

XXI On the Roll of PIonor. 185 

XXII Comments of the Press. 193 

Facts About the Titanic. 205 

XXIII Great Marine Disasters in Recent 

Years. 208 

XXIV The Tragedy of the Sea, By Rev . 

Andrew Johnson . 211 

XXV Help for Titanic Sufferers. 219 

XXVI Some Pathetic Features of the 

Tragedy . 227 

XXVII Some Fortunate Circumstances .. 231 

XXVIII Various Descriptions of How the 

Titanic Disappeared. 235 


















CONTENTS 


9 


CHAPTER 

XXIX 

XXX 

XXXI 

XXXII 

XXXIII 

XXXIV 

XXXV 


PAGE 


IT. S. Senators Obtain Facts of 
Wreck . 243 

Investigation Continued. 265 

The Investigation in Washington 272 
Senate Committee Examines Look¬ 
out and Passengers. 287 

Members of Ship’s Crew on Stand. 296 

The Bereft in the Boats, By Fred 

S. Miller. . 304 

Titanic’s Dead Brought Back. ... 311 







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ITee Guardian 'Angel of the Sea Pays Tribute to the Martyred Heroes 




10 























Story of the 
Wreck of the Titanic 


CHAPTER I 
THE TWO TITANS 

AS the Titanic drew away from the wharf to begin 
her only voyage, a common emotion quickened the thou¬ 
sands who were aboard her. Grimy slaves who worked 
and withered deep down in the glaring heat of her 
boiler rooms, on her breezy decks men of achievement 
and fame and millionaire pleasure seekers for whom the 
boat provided countless luxuries, in the steerage hordes 
of emigrants huddled in straited quarters but with 
their hearts fired for the new free land of hope; these, 
and also he whose anxious office placed him high above 
all—charged with the keeping of all of their lives—this 
care-furrowed captain on the bridge, his many-varied 
passengers, and even the remotest menial of his crew, 
experienced alike a glow of triumph as they faced the 
unknown dangers of the deep, a triumph bom of pride 
in the enormous, wonderful new ship that carried them. 

For she was the biggest boat that ever had been in 
the world. She implied the utmost stretch of construc- 
n 



12 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


tion, the furthest achievement in efficiency, the bewilder¬ 
ing embodiment of an immense multitude of luxuries 
for which only the richest of the earth could pay. The 
cost of the Titanic was tremendous—it had taken many 
millions of dollars—many months to complete her. 
Besides (and best of all) she was practically unsinkable 
her owners said; pierce her hull anywhere, and behind 
was a watertight bulkhead, a sure defense to flout the 
floods and hold the angry ocean from its prey. 

Angry is the word—for in all her triumph of perfec¬ 
tion the Titanic was but man’s latest insolence to the 
sea. Every article in her was a sheer defiance to the 
Deep’s might and majesty. The ship is not the ocean’s 
bride; steel hull and mast, whirling shaft and throbbing 
engine-heart (products, all, of serviceable wonderwork¬ 
ing fire)—what kinship have these with the wild and 
watery waste? They are an affront and not an affinity 
for the cold and alien and elusive element that at all 
times threatens to overwhelm them. 

But no one on the Titanic dreamed of danger when 
her prow was first set westward and her blades began 
the rhythmic beat that must not cease until the Atlantic 
had been crossed. Of all the statesmen, journalists, 
authors, famous financiers who were among her passen¬ 
gers (many of whom had arranged their affairs espe¬ 
cially to secure passage in this splendid vessel), in all 
that brilliant company it may be doubted if a single 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


13 


mind secreted the faintest lurking premonition of a 
fear. Other ships could come safely and safely go 
much more this monster—why, if an accident occurred 
and worse came to worst, she was literally too big to 
sink! Such was the instinctive reasoning of her passen¬ 
gers and crew, and such the unconsidered opinion of the 
world that read of her departure on the fatal day which 
marked the beginning of her first voyage and her last. 

No doubt her very name tempted this opinion: 
Titanic was she titled—as though she were allied to the 
famous fabled giants of old called Titans, who waged 
a furious war with the very forces of creation. 

Out she bore, this giant of the ships, then, blithely 
to meet and buffet back the surge, the shock, of ocean’s 
elemental might; latest enginery devised in man’s eter¬ 
nal warfare against nature, product of a thousand 
minds, bearer of myriad hopes. And to that uncon¬ 
sidered opinion of the world she doubtless seemed even 
arrogant in her plenitude of power, like the elements 
she clove and rode—the sweeping winds above, the surg¬ 
ing tide below. But this would be only in daytime, 
when the Titanic was beheld near land, whereon are 
multitudes of things beside which this biggest of the 
ships loomed large. When we imagine her alone, 
eclipsed by the solitude and immensity of night, a 
gleaming speck—no more—upon the gulf and middle 
of the vasty deep, while her gayer guests are dancing 



14 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


and the rest are moved to mirth or wrapped in slumber 
or lulled in security—when we think of her thus in her 
true relation, she seems not arrogant of power at all; 
only a slim and alien shape too feeble for her freight 
of precious souls, plowing a tiny track across the void, 
set about with silent forces of destruction compared to 
which she is as fragile as a cockle shell. 

Against her had been set in motion a mass for a 
long time mounting, a century’s stored-up aggregation 
of force, greater than any man-made thing as is infinity 
to one. It had expanded in the patience of great soli¬ 
tudes. On a Greenland summit, ages ago, avalanches 
of ice and snow collided, welded and then moved, inches 
in a year, an evolution that had naught to do with time. 
It was the true inevitable, gouging out a valley for its 
course, shouldering the precipices from its path. 
Finally the glacier reached the open Arctic, when a 
mile-in-width of it broke off and floated swinging free 
at last. 

Does Providence directly govern everything that is ? 
And did the Power who preordained the utmost second 
of each planet’s journey, rouse up the mountain from 
its sleep of snow and send it down to drift, deliberately 
direct, into the exact moment in the sea of time, into 
the exact station in the sea of waters, where danced a 
gleaming speck—the tiny Titanic —to be touched and 
overborne ? 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


15 


It is easy thus to ascribe to the Infinite the direction 
of the spectacular phenomena of nature; our laws denote 
them “acts of God”; our instincts (after centuries of 
civilization) still see in the earthquake an especial 
instance of His power, and in the flood the evidence of 
His wrath. The floating menace of the sea and ice is in 
a class with these. The terror-stricken who from their 
ship beheld the overwhelming monster say that it was 
beyond all imagination vast and awful, hundreds of feet 
high, leagues in extent, black as it moved beneath no 
moon, appallingly suggestive of man’s futility amidst 
the immensity of creation. See how, by a mere touch—- 
scarcely a jar—one of humanity’.s proudest handiworks, 
the greatest vessel of all time, is cut down in her course, 
ripped up, dismantled and engulfed. The true Titan 
has overturned the toy. 

Oh, w T here is now the boasted strength of that great 
hull of steel! Pitted against the iceberg’s adamant it 
crumples and collapses. What of the ship unsinkable; 
assured so by a perfected new device? settling in the 
sea, shuddering to an inrush and an outburst of frigid 
water and exploding steam! All the effort of the thou¬ 
sand busy brains that built her, all the myriad hopes she 
bore—down, quite down! A long farewell to the toy 
Titan as the erasing waters fill and flatten smooth again 
to ocean’s cold obliterating calm the handsbreadth she 
once fretted and defied! 


16 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Yes, it is easy to see God only in the grander mani¬ 
festations of nature; but occasionally we are stricken by 
his speaking in the still small voice. Hundreds on this 
night of wreck were thus impressed. As the great steel- 
strong leviathan sank into the sea, those in the fleeing 
lifeboats heard, amid the thunder and the discord of the 
monster’s breaking-up, afar across the waters floating 
clear, a tremulous insistence of sweet sound, a hymn of 
faith—utterly triumphant o’er the solitudes! Men had 
left their work to perish and turned themselves to God„ 
When he builds and boasts of his Titanics , man may 
be great, but it is only when he is stripped of every cloy¬ 
ing attribute of the world’s pomp and power that he can 
touch sublimity. Those on the wreck had mounted to 
it from the time the awful impact came. The rise began 
when men of intellect and noted works, of titled place 
and honored station, worked as true yoke-fellows with 
the steerage passengers to see that all the women and 
their little ones were safely placed within the boats. 
They did this calmly, while the steamer settled low and 
every instant brought the waters nearer to their breath; 
exulting as each o’erburdened lifeboat safely drew away, 
and cheering until the iceberg echoed back the sound. 
There was very little fear displayed; calm intrepidity 
was here the mark of a high calling. Captain Smith, 
indeed, was afraid, but it was only for the precious 
beings under God committed to his care. And how 



336 WOMEN 


52 CHILDREN 


TOTAL PASSENGERS & CREW 


53 CHILDREN 


- ■ - . . ; —J 


115 MEN 

58 MEN 


5 WOMEN 


139 WOMEN 


FIRST CLASS PASSENGERS 


5 CHILDREN 


147 MEN 


t3 

MEN 


- 76 WOMEN 


SECOND CLASS PASSENGERS 


24 CHILDREN 


39* MEN - . 

V ' '{ ‘ - l \C 


55 MEN 


81 WOMEN 


98 WOMEN 


THIRD CLASS PASSENGERS 


53 CHILDREN 

j CHILDREN . 

- -. ------. J 

i-- S jii 


“3— 7 ■"'—zzsmz: — 


l “ 'f* 

66 1 


C C v v "'V. -r '•••; " 

i men ... 


126 MEN 


v- /• -C /»•-* 


315 • WOMEN 


TOTAL PASSENGERS 


53 CHILDREN 


52 CH ILDKP.N 


~2L 


- . 


_ 


V I 

686 MEN 


!89 M f.N 


CREW 


r. WOMEN 


2 WOME N 


515 MEN 


—Specially Drawn for “The Sphere” by Cr. Bron 


The . Black Indicates Passengers and Crew NOT SAVED, the White Indi¬ 
cates the SAVED 

The official figures of the “Titanic” Disaster, as given in the British House of 
Commons showed that out of a total of 2,206 passengers and crew there were 
saved 202 first class, 115 second class, 176 third class, and 210 of the crew. 








































































































































WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


11 


manfully he minimized at first the danger until the 
rising surges creeping o’er the decks betrayed the awful 
truth. Then was the panic time! what cries were 
heard! what partings had and fond farewells! What 
love was lavished in renunciation and in life-and-death 
constancy when husband and wife refused to be sepa¬ 
rated in the hour that meant the inevitable death of one. 
But through all the time of terror the heroes of the 
Titanic remained true, nor yielded hearts to fear; 
and then, w T hen all was done, when the last well-laden 
boat had safely put away, when the chill waters could 
be felt encroaching in the darkness, those who volun¬ 
tarily awaited death, who had exemplified the sacred 
words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
man lay down his life for a friend”—then these put 
heroism behind them for humility, rose to the greater 
height, threw themselves on Him who walked the waters j 
to a sinking ship, as they sang in ecstasy the simple 
hymn of steadfast faith: “Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
nearer to Thee”! 

Thus did man assert once more his high superiority 
among created things—he alone has power to revert to 
the unseen author of them all. Though compassed about 
with vast unfriendly Titans of the elements, builder 
himself of Toy Titans, like the boasted ship, that exist 
at the mercy of the sea and sky—at every fresh disastei 
that brings to nothingness his chiefest works, his spir** 


18 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


yet allies itself peculiarly with the power that only may 
be imagined and not seen; being persuaded that neither 
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers* 
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
him from the love of God, 

ifftED S. Milled 



’Xr?JJ\UR H.OVET 

hath noMN thaw 
THIS- 

7 H/W W 5 { 

lFO« HJ t> 

JOHN JACOB AitOR. 

,i,DOR STRAOSS 
MAX ARCHIE- BUI f 
CEORGE B. , 

JACOUfi fOTHSUE A 


—Cleveland Plain Deale*. 












CHAPTER II 


STORY OF THE TITANIC 

The “Unsinkable” Titanic Strikes an Iceberg 
and Sinks—Hundreds Carried to Sudden and 
Untimely Death for Lack of Adequate Life- 
Saying Service—The Facts of the Wreck. 

The mighty ship Titanic , the triumph of the ship¬ 
builders, thronged with happy, confident people, inter¬ 
ested in her first voyage and her speed record, ploughed 
her swift way across the Atlantic, which lay smooth 
and calm and clear. In the midst of pleasant amuse¬ 
ments and happy dreams there came a slight shock, a 
glancing blow from an iceberg, a few minutes of calm 
disbelief—then horror incredible. The Titan of nature 
and the Titanic of mechanical construction had met in 
mid-ocean. The iceberg ripped open the ship’s side, 
exposing her boilers to the icy water, causing their 
explosion, plunging hundreds of people to their death 
within the short space of two hours. This is the tragic 
story of the 1 °autiful ocean palace that sailed forth so 
gallantly from harbor on her maiden trip, April 10, 
1912,—buried under 2,000 fathoms of water with some 
1,595 of her ill-fated passengers. 

19 


20 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


No more thrilling or pitiful tale has ever been writ¬ 
ten on the page of history—no greater record of human 
sacrifice and heroism. 

The Titanic was the last word in ship building and 
she set forth on her first voyage, the pride of an admiring 
world. Her luxurious appointments were beyond criti¬ 
cism, beautiful salons, reading and lounging rooms, 
palm courts, Turkish baths, private baths, a gymnasium, 
a swimming pool, a ballroom and billiard hall, every¬ 
thing one could imagine as making for comfort. Her 
mechanical construction was thought to be as perfect, 
and in the minds of her passengers was a faith in her 
“unsinkable” character almost unshakable. She carried 
nearly a full passenger roll, 2,340 people including the 
crew, as generally estimated, and was provided with 
only twenty lifeboats, sixteen ordinary lifeboats and 
four collapsible boats—accommodation for about a third 
of her passengers. These numbered some of the wealth¬ 
iest and most prominent people on both sides of the 
Atlantic, John Jacob Astor, Major Archibald Butt, 
Benjamin Guggenheim, Isidor Straus, Charles M. 
Hays, Arthur Ryerson, Henry B. Harris, William T. 
Stead, Jacques Futrelle, and many more who gave up 
their lives in common with the humblest passenger in 
the steerage. 

After the usual concert, Sunday evening, April 14, 
the passengers were in the midst of retiring or were 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


21 


amusing themselves in card and reading rooms. Some 
few were on deck enjoying the splendid evening, clear 
and fair, the ocean wonderfully calm. Suddenly there 
came a slight rocking of the ship, so slight as to be 
unnoticed by many. “Grazed an iceberg. Nothing 
serious,” was the general comment as men resumed their 
interrupted card games. That was 11:40 P. M. Many 
people went to bed without another thought. The berg 
had been sighted only a quarter of a mile away, too 
late to check the ship’s speed, so she rushed into the mass 
of ice, projecting only about eighty feet above sea level 
but reaching dangerously into the depths. The shock 
of the blow was so slight as to be scarcely perceptible to 
the unconscious passengers. But nevertheless it was a 
stroke dealing out death. For the Titanic , pushed on 
by her tremendous momentum of 21 knots an hour, 
sliding against the knife-like ledge, projecting unseen 
into the water, ripped her side open on the ice, shatter¬ 
ing her air-tight bulkheads. This permitted her grad¬ 
ual sinking, thereby allowing the icy waters to penetrate 
to her boilers, which had been working at high pres¬ 
sure, and causing their explosion, sending her to the 
bottom within two and one-half hours from the time 
she struck the iceberg. 

Captain Smith took command as soon as the ship 
struck and the engines were stopped instantly. This 
sudden cessation of the constant vibration drew the pas- 


22 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


sengers’ attention more than did the shock of the col¬ 
lision. Life belts were ordered on the people immedi¬ 
ately, and the boats were made ready, though the passen¬ 
gers thought all the time it was merely done for the 
sake of extraordinary precaution. 

In the first boat the occupants were nearly all Men, 
for there were no women on deck. The stewards and 
stewardesses were ordered below to summon the pe )pie 
from their staterooms, and when they came rushing out, 
some in their night clothes, some in evening gown* all 
startled at the order but even yet believing in the 
strength of the Titanic , the rule “women first” was 
rigidly enforced. Unwillingly the women were torn 
from their husbands, or placed in the boats by their hus¬ 
bands with the assurance that they would follow in < >ther 
boats. In this way the boats were loaded with women 
and children, protesting but passive for the most part, 
with just two or three men to manage the oars. The 
scene was one of remarkable order. There was no mad 
struggle for safety; the men stood back and sent the 
women out, with very little disturbance. The report 
was circulated that the men and women were to be put 
in separate boats; also that there were boats on the 
other side of the ship and they were simply going later. 
Many thought, too, that their boats would soon be called 
back—that it was a mere matter of a short side-excur¬ 
sion. So the boats were lowered away, and only when 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


23 


they were out in the water did their occupants realize the 
real danger. Then they could see the desperate plight 
of the Titanic . 

As the Titanic sank gradually the water reached her 
engines, and an explosion tilted her decks, the list 
becoming more pronounced and consequently more dan¬ 
gerous every moment. Still the boats were loaded with 
women and children, until the last one swung off just in 
time. 

The doomed multitude remaining shared her fate. 
Some leaped into the sea and clutched at floating wreck¬ 
age ; some sank with her, swimming to bits of wreckage 
as they struck the water; most of these were drowned, 
though a few escaped miraculously, picked up by the 
lifeboats or keeping themselves afloat by means of drift¬ 
ing boards and ship furnishings. 

As the ship went down at 2:20 Monday morning, 
her colors flying, her captain in his place on the bridge, 
her bulk aglow with twinkling lights, the majority of 
her passengers looking out to sea from her decks, her 
string band playing “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” united 
for the final moment the souls of the unhappy ones in 
safety of the frail boats with those loved ones help¬ 
lessly going to their death. 

Then the lights winked, the black mass surged under 
and the death cries of the hundreds broke into the quiet 
night. 


24 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 



That was soon over, hut the suffering in the lifeboats 
continued for hours. It was bitterly cold, due to the 
proximity of the iceberg; many of the boats were 
dashed partly full of the icy water; none of their occu¬ 
pants were sufficiently clad. In some of the boats, the 
women had to take the oars and they rowed with bleed¬ 
ing hands, these delicately nurtured ladies who proved 
their claim on heroism equal to that of the gentlemen. 
The boats were not provided with food, water, lighting 
facilities, necessities of any kind, and when the Carpa¬ 
thian summoned by wireless, reached them, they could 
only signal by means of fragmentary letters and matches 
found about the persons of some of the passengers. 

For four long hours they floated about, dazed by 
sorrow, nearly insensible from the bitter exposure to 
cold and wet, until the good ship Carpathia picked them 
up. Once in her cabins, they were given food and 
clothes; warmed, but not comforted. After the rescue, 
a service of thanksgiving, funeral service for the lost, 
was held—one of the most heart-breaking scenes ever 
enacted. 

Thus ended the career of the TitaniCj but her story 
will live long in the hearts of the bereft survivors, and, 
to all the world, it bears a message that cannot be ig¬ 
nored—the message that to the god of commercial greed 
human sacrifices shall not be allowed at sea. 

When the gallant ship Titanic } fair and false, set 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


25 


forth on her initial trip with her 2,340 passengers, they 
little Streamed they were destined to point a moral to 
the wnrld—that they were to be the instruments to dem¬ 
onstrate the criminal negligence of ship builders in de¬ 
liberately sending forth vessels luxuriously equipped 
with tvery convenience and comfort, except the most 
essential one—lifeboats. 

This great ocean liner—representing the acme of 
ship construction—went to her ruin after striking a 
huge iceberg in her course, an accident which probably 
was unavoidable, though greater care might have been 
exercised in the matter of speed. 

To the twenty frail lifeboats fell the burden of keep¬ 
ing her 2,340 passengers afloat until the inevitable help 
should come, with the equally inevitable result that only 
745 people emerged from the ill-fated wreck. 

The cause for the disaster is undeniable; the reason 
for the loss of life is equally clear. The tales of horror 
of the survivors point to one single ominous fact; lack 
of adequate, commonsense protection of life paid to the 
Atlantic sea bottom the horrid toll of 1,595 persons. 

Unequalled in their terrible, thrilling quality, the 
stories of this disaster; the striking of the iceberg, the 
loading of the boats, the agonized farewell, the mad 
leaps into the sea, the fearful hours upon the water 
before rescue, and the bitter revelations of those lost, 
all these things stir the heart to sympathy and the con- 


26 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


science to a demand for lawful, law enforced safeguards 
that shall prevent another such grim tragedy. 

These murdered hundreds were merely another in¬ 
stance of the innocent sacrifices offered to the god of 
commercial profit. Some day, it is written, we shall 
cease this heathen worship; we shall demand proper pre¬ 
cautions for our people, even though it be at the expense 
of a few paltry dollars. The time is now. 

Laws shall be made and laws shall be enforced, and 
the future millions shall go to sea in ships provided 
with adequate safeguards. This is the service per¬ 
formed for us by these martyrs of the Titanic . 



Waiting in Suspense 


—Cleveland Plain Dealer 


CHAPTER III 


SPUR OF ICEBERG RIPPED OPEN 
BOTTOM OF THE TITANIC 

Gigantic Vessel Literally Disemboweled by Sub¬ 
merged Floe While Speeding—Little Shock 
Was Felt—Passengers eor Half an Hour 
Believed Damage Was Slight and Took Things 
Calmly—Many Were in Their Staterooms. 

It was the submerged spur of an iceberg of ordinary 
proportions that sent the White Star liner Titanic more 
than two miles to the bottom of the Atlantic off the 
banks of Newfoundland. The vessel was steaming 
almost full tilt through a gently swelling sea and under 
a starlit sky, in charge of First Officer Murdock, who a 
moment after the collision surrendered the command to 
Capt. Smith, who went down with his boat. 

The lifeboats that were launched were not filled to 
their capacity. The general feeling aboard the ship was, 
even after the boats had left its sides, that the vessel 
would survive its wound, and the passengers who were 
left aboard believed almost up to the last moment that 
they had a chance for their lives. 

27 


28 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


The captain and officers behaved with the utmost 
gallantry, and there was perfect order and discipline in 
the launching of the boats, even after all hope had been 
abandoned for the salvation of the ship and of those who 
were on board. 

PLACID SEA HID DEATH 

The great liner was plunging through a compara¬ 
tively placid sea on the surface of which there was much 
mushy ice and here and there a number of compara¬ 
tively harmless looking floes. The night was clear and 
stars visible. Chief Officer Murdock was in charge of 
the bridge. 

The first intimation of the presence of the iceberg 
that he received was from the lookout in the crow’s nest. 
They were so close upon the berg at this moment that 
it was practically impossible to avoid a collision with it. 

The first officer did what other unstartled and alert 
commanders would have done under similar circum¬ 
stances—that is, he made an effort by going full speed 
ahead on his starboard propeller and reversing his port 
propeller, simultaneously throwing his helm over, to 
make a rapid turn and clear the berg. 

HIPPED BOTTOM OPEN 

These maneuvers were not successful. He suc¬ 
ceeded in preventing his bow from crashing into the ice 
cliff, but nearly the entire length of the great ship on 
the starboard side w T as ripped. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


2S 


The speed of the Titanic , estimated to be at least 
twenty-one knots, was so terrific that the knifelike edge 
of the iceberg’s spur protruding under the sea cut 
through her like a can opener. 

The shock was almost imperceptible. The first 
officer did not apparently realize that the ship had 
received its death wound and none of the passengers it is 
believed had the slightest suspicion that anything more 
than a usual minor accident had happened. Hundreds 
who had gone to their berths and were asleep were not 
awakened by the vibration. 

RETURNED TO CARD GAME 

To illustrate the placidity with which practically all 
the men regarded the accident it was related that four 
who were in the smoking room playing bridge calmly 
got up from the table, and, after walking on deck and 
looking over the rail, returned to their game. One of 
them had left his cigar on the card table, and while the 
three others were gazing out on the sea he remarked 
that he couldn’t afford to lose his smoke, returned for 
his cigar, and came out again. 

The three remained only for a few moments on deck. 
They resumed their game under the impression that 
the ship had stopped for reasons best known to the com¬ 
mander and not involving any danger to her. The 
tendency of the whole ship’s company except the men 


m 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


in the engine department, who were made aware of the 
danger by the inrushing water, was to make light of it 
and in some instances even to ridicule the thought of 
danger to so substantial a fabric. 

SLOW TO REALIZE PERIL 

Within a few minutes stewards and other members 
of the crew were sent around to arouse the people. 
Some utterly refused to get up. The stewards had 
almost to force the doors of the staterooms to make the 
somnolent appreciate their peril. 

Mr. and Mrs. Astor were in their room and saw the 
ice vision flash by. They had not appreciably felt the 
gentle shock and supposed then nothing out of the ordi¬ 
nary had happened. They were both dressed and came 
on deck leisurely. 

It was not until the ship began to take a heavy list to 
starboard that a tremor of fear pervaded it. 

LAUNCHED BOATS SAFELY 

The crew had been called to clear away the lifeboats, 
of which there were twenty, four of which were col¬ 
lapsible. The boats that were lowered on the port side 
of the ship touched the water without capsizing. Some 
of the others lowered to starboard, including one col¬ 
lapsible, were capsized. All hands on the collapsible 
boats that practically went to pieces were rescued by the 
other boats. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


31 


Sixteen boats in all got away safely. It was even 
then the general impression that the ship was all right 
and there is no doubt that that was the belief of even 
some of the officers. 

At the lowering of the boats the officers superintend¬ 
ing it were armed with revolvers, but there was no neces¬ 
sity for using them as there was nothing in the nature of 
a panic and no man made an effort to get into a boat 
while the women and children were being put aboard. 

BEGAN TO JUMP INTO SEA 

As the ship began to settle to starboard, heeling at 
an angle of nearly forty-five degrees, those who had 
believed it was all right to stick by the ship began to 
have doubt and a few jumped into the sea. These were 
followed immediately by others and in a few minutes 
there were scores swimming around. Nearly all of them 
wore life preservers. 

One man who had a Pomeranian dog leaped over¬ 
board with it and striking a piece of wreckage was badly 
stunned. He recovered after a few minutes and swam 
toward one of the lifeboats and was taken aboard. Most 
of the men who were aboard the Carpathian barring the 
members of the crew who had manned the boats, had 
jumped into the sea as the Titanic was settling. 

Under instructions from officers and men in charge, 
the lifeboats were rowed a considerable distance from 


32 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


the ship itself in order to get away from the possible 
' suction that would follow the foundering. The mar¬ 
velous thing about the disappearance was so little suc¬ 
tion as to be hardly appreciable from the point where the 
boats were floating. 

There was ample time to launch all boats before the 
Titantic went down, as it was two hours and twenty 
minutes afloat. 

So confident were all hands that it had not sustained 
a mortal wound that it was not until 12:15 a. m., or 
thirty-five minutes after the berg was encountered, that 
the boats were lowered. Hundreds of the crew and a 
large majority of the officers, including Capt. Smith, 
stuck to the ship to the last. 

It was evident after there were several explosions, 
which doubtless were the boilers blowing up, that it had 
but a few minutes more of life. 

SINKS WITH LITTLE FLURRY 

The sinking ship made much less commotion than the 
horrified watchers in the lifeboats had expected. They 
were close enough to the broken vessel to see clearly the 
most grewsome details of the foundering. All the spec¬ 
tators agreed that the shattered sections of the ship went 
down so quietly as to excite wonder. 

Some of the rescued were scantily clad and suffered 
exceedingly from the cold, but the majority of them 



THE CRADLE IN WHICH THE S.S. TITANIC WAS BUILT 













¥ 


THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TITANIC. THE MEETING OF THE TITANS 














WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


30 


were prepared for the emergency. In the darkness 
aboard the ship that came shortly after the collision it 
was impossible for those in the boats to distinguish the 
identity of any of the persons who leaped into the sea. 
It is believed that nearly all cabin passengers who had 
not gone overboard immediately after the boats were 
launched vanished with the officers and crew. 

HAD TIME TO DRESS 

Some of the stewards who formed part of the life¬ 
boat crew say that after the ship hit the berg the major¬ 
ity of the cabin passengers went back to their state¬ 
rooms and that it was necessary to rout them out and in 
some instances force life preservers upon them. All 
agree that the engines of the ship were stopped immedi¬ 
ately after she had made the ineffectual turn to clear the 
berg. 

The lifeboats’ crews were made up of stewards, 
stokers, coal trimmers, and ordinary seamen. It is said 
that the davits were equipped with a new contrivance 
for the swift launching of the boats, but that the ma¬ 
chinery was so complicated and the men so unfamiliar 
with it that they had trouble in managing it. 




CHAPTER IV 

THRILLING STORY OF THE WRECK 

TOLD BY L. BEASLEY, M. A., OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, 
ENGLAND. 

“The voyage from Queenstown had been quite un¬ 
eventful ; very fine weather was experienced and the sea 
was quite calm. The wind had been westerly to south¬ 
westerly the whole way, but very cold, particularly the 
last day; in fact, after dinner on Sunday evening it 
was almost too cold to be out on deck at all. 

“I had been in my berth for about ten minutes when 
at about 11:40 P. M. I felt a slight jar and then soon 
after a second one, but not sufficiently large to cause 
any anxiety to anyone however nervous they may have 
been. The engines stopped immediately afterward and 
my first thought was—‘she has lost a propeller.’ 

“I went up on the top deck in a dressing gown, and 
found only a few people there, who had come up simi¬ 
larly to inquire why we had stopped, but there was no 
sort of anxiety in the minds of anyone. 

“We saw through the smoking-room window a game 
of cards going on and went in to inquire if the players 
knew anything; it seems they felt more of the jar, and 
looking through the window had seen a huge iceberg go 
by close to the side of the boat. They thought we had 

34 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


35 


just grazed it with a glancing blow, and the engines had 
been stopped to see if any damage had been done. No 
one, of course, had any conception that she had been 
pierced below by part of the submerged iceberg. 

“The game went on without any thought of disas¬ 
ter, and I retired to my cabin to read until we went on 
again. I never saw any of the players or the onlookers 
again. A little later, hearing people going upstairs, I 
went out again and found every one wanting to know 
why the engines had stopped. 

“No doubt many were awakened from sleep by the 
sudden stopping of a vibration to which they had be¬ 
come accustomed during the four days we had been on 
board. Naturally, with such powerful engines as the 
Titanic carried, the vibration was very noticeable all the 
time, and the sudden stopping had something the same 
effect as the stopping of a loud-ticking grandfather’s 
clock in a room. 

“put on life belts” 

“On going on deck again I saw that there was an 
undoubted list downward from stern to bow, but know¬ 
ing of what had happened concluded some of the front 
compartments had filled and weighed her down. I went 
down again to put on warmer clothing, and as I dressed 
heard an order shouted: 

“ ‘All passengers on deck with life belts on.’ 


36 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“We walked slowly up with them tied on over our 
clothing, but even then presumed this was a wise pre¬ 
caution the captain was taking, and that we should re¬ 
turn in a short time and retire to bed. 

“There was a total absence of any panic or any ex¬ 
pressions of alarm, and I suppose this can be accounted 
for by the exceedingly calm night and the absence of 
any signs of the accident. 

REAL PERIL WAS HIDDEN 

“The ship was absolutely still and except for a gentle 
tilt downward, which I do not think one person in ten 
would have noticed at that time, no signs of the ap¬ 
proaching disaster were visible. She lay just as if she 
were waiting the order to go on again when some trifling 
matter had been adjusted. But in a few moments we 
saw the covers lifted from the boats and the crews 
allotted to them standing by and curling up the ropes 
which were to lower them by the pulley blocks into the 
water. 

“We then began to realize it was more serious than 
had been supposed, and my first thought was to go down 
and get more clothing and some money, but seeing 
people pouring up the stairs decided it was better to 
cause no confusion to people coming up by doing so. 

“Presently we heard the order: 

“ ‘All men stand back away from the boats and all 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


37 


ladies retire to next deck below’—the smoking-room 
deck or B deck. The men all stood away and remained 
in absolute silence, leaning against the end railings of 
the deck or pacing slowly up and down. 

“The boats were swung out and lowered from A 
deck. When they were to the level of B deck, where all 
the ladies were collected, the ladies got in quietly, with 
the exception of some who refused to leave their hus¬ 
bands. In some cases they were torn from them and 
pushed into the boats, but in many instances they were 
allowed to remain because there was no one to insist 
they should go. 

“Looking over the side, one saw boats from aft 
already in the water, slipping quietly away into the 
darkness, and presently the boats near to me were 
lowered and with much creaking as the new ropes 
slipped through the pulley blocks down the ninety feet 
which separated them from the water. An officer in 
uniform came up as one boat went down and shouted: 
‘When you are afloat, row round to the companion 
ladder and stand by with the other boats for orders.’ 

DISCIPLINE HOLDS GOOD 

“ ‘Aye, aye, sir/ came up the reply, but I do not 
think any boat was able to obey the order. When they 
were afloat and had the oars at work the condition of 
the rapidly settling boat was so much more a sight for 


88 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


alarm for those in the boats than those on board that in 
common prudence the sailors saw they could do nothing 
but row from the sinking ship to save at any rate some 
lives. They no doubt anticipated that suction from such 
an enormous vessel would be more than usually danger¬ 
ous to a crowded boat mostly filled with women. 

“All this time there was no trace of any disorder, 
panic or rush to the boats, and no scenes of women sob¬ 
bing hysterically, such as one generally pictures as hap¬ 
pening at such times; every one seemed to realize so 
slowly that there was imminent danger. 

“When it was realized that we might ail be presently 
in the sea, with nothing but our life belts to support us 
until we were picked up by passing steamers, it was 
extraordinary how calm every one was and how com¬ 
pletely self-controlled. 

“One by one the boats were filled with women and 
children, lowered and rowed away into the night. Pres¬ 
ently the word went round among the men, ‘the men 
are to be put into the boats on the starboard side.’ I 
was on the port side, and most of the men walked across 
the deck to see if this was so. 

“I remained where I was, and presently heard the 
call: 

“ ‘Any more ladies?’ Looking over the side of the 
ship, I saw the boat, No. 13, swinging level with B deck* 
half full of ladies. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


39 


“Again the call was repeated: 

“ ‘Any more ladies?’ 

“I saw none come on and then one of the crew looked 
up and said: ‘Any ladies on your deck, sir?’ 

“ ‘No,’ I replied. 

“ ‘Then you had better jump.’ 

“I dropped in and fell in the bottom, as they cried 
‘lower away.’ As the boat began to descend two ladies 
were pushed hurriedly through the crowd on B deck 
and heaved over into the boat, and a baby of 10 months 
passed down after them. Down we went, the crew call¬ 
ing to those lowering which end to keep her level. ‘Aft,’ 
‘stern,’ ‘both together,’ until we were some ten feet from 
the water, and here occurred the only anxious moment 
we had during the whole of our experience from leav¬ 
ing the deck to reaching the Carpailiia. 

NEW PERIL THREATENED 

“Immediately below our boat was the exhaust of the 
condensers, a huge stream of water pouring all the time 
from the ship’s side just above the water line. It was 
plain we ought to be quite a way from this not to be 
swamped by it when we touched water. We had no 
officer aboard, nor petty officer or member of the crew 
to take charge. So one of the stokers shouted: ‘Some 
one find the pin which releases the boat from the ropes 
and pull it up.’ No one knew where it was. We felt as 


40 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


well as we could on the floor and sides, but found noth¬ 
ing, and it was hard to move among so many people— 
we had sixty or seventy on board. 

“Down we went and presently floated with our ropes 
still holding us, the exhaust washing us away from the 
side of the vessel and the swell of the sea urging us 
back against the side again. The result of all these 
forces was an impetus which carried us parallel to the 
ship’s side and directly under boat No. 14, which had 
filled rapidly with men and was coming down on us in a 
way that threatened to submerge our boat. 

SOUND FAILED TO CARRY 

“ ‘Stop lowering 14/ our crew shouted, and the crew 
of No. 14, now only twenty feet above, shouted the 
same. But the distance to the top was some seventy 
feet and the creaking pulleys must have deadened all 
sound to those above, for down it came—fifteen feet, 
ten feet, five feet, and a stoker and I reached up and 
touched her swinging above our heads. The next drop 
would have brought it on our heads, but just before it 
dropped another stoker sprang to the ropes with his 
knife. 

“‘One/ I heard him say; ‘two/ as his knife cut 
through the pulley ropes, and the next moment the ex¬ 
haust steam had carried us clear, while boat 14 dropped 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


41 


into the space we had the moment before occupied, our 
gunwales almost touching. 

“We drifted away easily as the oars were got out 
and headed directly away from the ship. The crew 
seemed to me to be mostly cooks in white jackets, two to 
an oar, with a stoker at the tiller. 

“The captain-stoker told us that he had been on the 
sea twenty-six years and had never seen such a calm 
night on the Atlantic. As we rowed away from the 
Titanic we looked back from time to time to watch it, 
and a more striking spectacle it was not possible for any 
one to see. 


TITANIC GREAT IN DEATH 

“In the distance it looked an enormous length, its 
great bulk outlined in black against the starry sky, 
every porthole and saloon blazing with light. It was 
impossible to think anything could be wrong with such 
a leviathan were it not for that ominous tilt downward 
in the bow, where the water was by now up to the lowest 
row of portholes. Presently about 2 A. M., as near as 
I can remember, we observed it settling very rapidly, 
with the bow and bridge completely under water, and 
concluded it was now only a question of minutes before 
it went; and so it proved. 

“It slowly tilted straight on end, with the stern ver¬ 
tically upward, and as it did, the lights in the cabins and 


42 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


saloons, which had not flickered for a moment since we 
left, died out, came on again for a single flash, and 
Anally went altogether. 

“To our amazement the Titanic remained in that up¬ 
right position, bow down, for a time which I estimate 
as five minutes, while we watched at least 150 feet of the 
Titanic towering above the level of the sea and looming 
black against the sky. Then the ship dived beneath the 
waters. 

HEARD CRY OF DYING 

“And then, with all these, there fell on the ear the 
most appalling noise that human being ever listened to 
—the cries of hundreds of our fellow beings struggling 
in the icy cold water, crying for help with a cry that we 
knew could not be answered. We longed to return and 
pick up some of those swimming, but this would have 
meant swamping our boat and loss of life to all of us. 

THE CARPATHIA APPEARS 

“Our rescuer showed up in a few hours, and as it 
swung round we saw its cabins all alight and knew it 
must be a large steamer. It was now motionless, and 
we had to row to it. Just then day broke, a beautiful, 
quiet dawn with faint pink clouds just above the horizon, 
and a new moon whose crescent just touched the waters.’’ 

“The passengers, officers and crew gave up gladly 
their staterooms, clothing and comforts for our benefit, 
all honor to them.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 43 

The English Board of Trade passenger certificate 
on board the Titanic showed approximately 3,500. 
The same certificate called for lifeboat accommodation 
for approximately 950 in the following boats: 

Fourteen large lifeboats, two smaller boats and four 
collapsible boats. 

Life-preservers were accessible and apparently in 
sufficient number for all on board. 

The approximate number of passengers carried at 
the time of the collision was: 

First class, 330; second class, 320; third class, 750; 
total, 1,400. Officers and crew, 940. Total, 2,340. 

Of the foregoing about the following were rescued 
by the steamship Carpathia : 

First class, 210; second class, 125; third class, 200; 
officers, 4; seamen, 39; stewards, 96; firemen, 71; total, 
210 of the crew. The total, about 745 saved, w r as about 
80 per cent of the maximum capacity of the lifeboats. 


CHAPTER V 

RESCUE OF THE SURVIVORS 


Only 745 of the 2,340 Souls Aboard Doomed Liner 

Saved by the Lifeboats—Little Shock Felt 

When the Iceberg was Struck by the Titanic. 

Freighted with its argosy of woe, disaster and death, 
bringing glad reunion to some, but misery unutterable 
to many, the Carpathia , with the survivors of the lost 
Titanic aboard, came back to a grief-stricken city and 
nation four days after the disaster. It was received by 
awe-stricken thousands whose conversation was con¬ 
ducted in whispers. 

The story it brought home was one to crush the 
heart with its pathos, but at the same time to thrill it 
with pride in the manly and womanly fortitude dis¬ 
played in the face of the most awful peril and inevitable 
death. 

As the Titanic went down, according to the story 
of those who were among the last to leave the wounded 
hulk, the ship’s band was playing. 

estimated 1,595 dead 

As brought to port by the Carpathia , the death list 
was placed at 1,601. The Titanic had aboard 2,340 
persons, of whom 745 were picked up. Six of the latter 
44 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


45 


succumbed to the exposure they had undergone before 
the Carpathia reached port. 

Not only was the Titanic tearing through the April 
night to its doom with every ounce of steam crowded 
on, but it was under orders from the general officers 
of the line to make all the speed of which she was 
capable. This was the statement made by J. H. Moody, 
a quartermaster of the vessel and helmsman on the night 
of the disaster. He said the ship was making twenty- 
one knots an hour, and the officers were striving to live 
up to the orders to smash the record. 

“It was close to midnight,” said Moody, “and I was 
on the bridge with the second officer, who was in com¬ 
mand. Suddenly he shouted, ‘Port your helm!’ I did 
so, but it was too late. We struck the submerged por¬ 
tion of the berg.” 

LITTLE SHOCK FELT 

As nearly as most of the passengers could remem¬ 
ber, the Titanic, sliding through the water at no more 
speed than had been consistently maintained during all 
of the trip, slid gracefully a few feet out of the water 
with just the slightest tremble. It rolled slightly; then 
it pitched. The shock, scarcely noticeable to those on 
board, drew a few loungers over to the railings. Offi¬ 
cers and petty officers were hurrying about. There was 
no destruction within the ship, at least not in the sight 
of the passengers. 


46 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


There was no panic. Everything 1 that could be seen 
tended to alleviate what little fear had crept into the 
minds of the passengers, who were more apprehensive 
than the regular travelers who cross the ocean at this 
season of the year and who were more used to experi¬ 
encing those small quivers. 

Not one person aboard the Titanic , unless possibly 
it was the men of the crew, who were working far below, 
knew the extent of the injuries it had sustained. Many 
of the passengers had taken time to dress, so sure were 
they that there was no danger. They came on deck, 
looked the situation over and were unable to see the 
slightest sign that the Titanic had been torn open 
beneath the water line. 

When the passengers’ fear had been partly calmed 
and most of them had returned to their staterooms or 
to the card games in which they were engaged before 
the quiver was felt, there came surging through the 
first cabin quarters a report, that seemed to have drifted 
in from nowhere, that the ship was sinking. 

How this word crept in from outside no one seems 
now to know. Immediately the crew began to man 
the boats. 

Then came the shudder of the riven hulk of the 
once magnificent steamship as it receded from the 
shelving ice upon which it had driven, and its bow set¬ 
tled deeply into the water. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


47 


“We’re lost! We’re lost I 5 ’’ was the cry that rose 
from hundreds of throats. “The ship is sinking. We 
must drown like rats!” 

Women in evening gowns, with jewels about their 
necks, knelt on deck, amid the vast, fear-stricken throng, 
crowded about the lifeboats and prayed for help. 
Others, clad in their nightclothing, begged the officers 
to let them enter the boats. 

“Everybody to the boats!” was the startling cry that 
Avas repeated from end to end of the Titanic . 

“Women and children first!” was the hoarse order 
that went along the line of lifeboats. 

Without food, without clothing and with only the 
clothes in which they stood when the shock came, the 
women were tossed over the rails of the lifeboats, the 
davits were swung out, a few men were picked to man 
the oars, an officer to command the boat and the order 
to “lower away” was shouted. The little craft, laden 
with living freight, were launched. 

NO CHOICE BETWEEN CLASSES 

Men whose names and reputation were prominent 
in two hemispheres were shouldered out of the way by 
roughly dressed Slavs and Hungarians. Husbands 
were separated from their wives in the battle to reach 
the boats. Tearful leave-takings as the lifeboats, one 
after another, were filled with sobbing women and low- 


48 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ered upon the ice-covered surface of the ocean were 
heart-breaking. 

There was no time to pick or choose. The first 
woman to step into a lifeboat held her place even though 
she were a maid or the wife of a Hungarian peasant. 
Many women clung to their husbands and refused to 
be separated. In some cases they dragged their hus¬ 
bands to the boats and in the confusion the men found 
places in the boats. 

Before there was any indication of panic, Henry B. 
Harris, a theatrical manager of New York, stepped 
into a boat at the side of his wife before it was lowered. 

“Women first!” shouted one of the ship’s officers. 
Mr. Harris glanced up and saw that the remark was 
addressed to him. 

“All right,” he replied, coolly. 

“Goodby, my dear,” he said, as he kissed his wife, 
pressed her a moment to his breast and then climbed 
back to the Titanic's deck. 

FLEET DREW AWAY 

One by one the little fleet drew away from the tower¬ 
ing sides of the giant steamship, whose decks were 
already reeling as it sank lower in the water. 

“The Titanic is doomed!” was the verdict that passed 
from lip to lip. 

“We will sink before help can come!” 

Water poured into every compartment of the 800- 



Photo Under woo d A Underwood, N. Y. 

HOISTING TITANIC LIFEBOAT FILLED WITH RESCUED 
ABOARD THE CARPATHIA 











HAROLD BRIDE 

A Titanic wireless operator, being carried ashore from Carpathia. He 
jumped into the sea and was rescued, but his feet were badly frozen. 








WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


49 


foot hull, where great plates had been torn apart and 
huge rivets were sheared off as though they were so 
much cheese. 

Pumps were started in the engine-room, but the 
water poured into the great hull in such torrents through 
scores of rents that all knew the fight to save the steam¬ 
ship was hopeless. 

Overhead the wireless buzzed the news to the other 
steamships. The little fleet of lifeboats withdrew to a 
safe distance and the 1,595 left on board with no boats 
waited for the merciful death plunge which ended all. 

WOMEN SAVED FIRST 

’A. few spars, a box or two, a few small pieces of 
other wreckage, were the only portions of the Titanic 
corpse that lived on the water surface to be beheld by 
the persons on board the Carpathia when it rushed to 
the rescue. It was just breaking day as the rescue work 
w r as completed. 

So exhausted were the survivors that scarcely any 
of them were able to tell their story of what actually 
had happened until late in the afternoon of Monday. 
It seemed impossible to obtain a complete story of the 
tragedy. 

FEW INJURED ON WRECK 

Certainly few of the Titanic passengers were hurt 
on board that great vessel. Few of the persons who 


50 ' WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


came in among the survivors on the Carpathia bore my 
marks of injury. Their sufferings were caused chiefly 
by exposure, shock and grief. The latter was terrible. 
Many of the women had walked into a boat after kissing 
their husbands good-by. 

The women in the lifeboats saw their loved ones 
plunge to death. The survivors’ boats were bobbing 
along in the waves all within a radius of half a mile of 
the great Titanic , when, with a roar and burst of spray, 
it settled and passed out of sight for the last time. 

Then began one of the most tortuous experiences 
for the helpless women in the drifting lifeboats that 
human beings ever were compelled to endure. 

It was black night. Fortunately several of the men 
who were saved and some of the few petty officers who 
had aided in manning the lifeboats had a few matches 
in their pockets. Their torches were improvised from 
letters and scraps of papers that were found in their 
pockets. There was nothing to be seen. 

SIGNALED W r ITH TORCHES 

The torches, the only hope of those who thought 
they were doomed to death, were being carefully 
guarded and many times those who held them were im¬ 
plored to light them in the faint hope that rescue was 
closer at hand than even the most sanguine could have 
believed. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


51 


But the strong prevailed and it was not until the 
first rocket was seen to shoot heavenward from the Car¬ 
pathia that the first of the torches was lighted and its 
filmy blaze shot up as high as was possible when one 
of the men, held on the shoulders of five others, stood 
up and waved the flaming papers until they burned 
down to his finger tips. 

The desolate groups huddled together in the tossing 
and rolling tiny craft could not tell whether their torch 
had been seen by the ship that was firing the rockets. 
They waited fifteen minutes and the operation was 
repeated. 

Then the huge bulk of the Car pathia took form in 
the gray of the breaking morning and it swept swiftly 
down into the center of a widely separated fleet of life¬ 
boats with their human freight, then more dead than 
alive. They had been for approximately six hours in 
the open with the waves sending spray and at intervals 
whole barrelsful of water in upon them. They were 
drenched and the severe cold was freezing their clothing 
to their bodies. Only a few of them were able to walk 
when finally it came their turn to be taken on board the 
Carpathia. 

The Carpathia s sailors went after those lying un¬ 
conscious in the bottom of the lifeboats, lifted them up 
to other sailors standing on the Carpathia!s ladders. 


52 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 




Everything that could be done for the survivors was 
done on the Carpathia. 

Several of them had been cut and bruised in their 
attempts to get into the lifeboats and by falling from 
exhaustion during the awful ordeal they were compelled 
to pass through while waiting for the Carpathia to come 
to their relief. These were given surgical care. The 
others were placed in bed and few if any of them were 
able during the rest of the voyage to go on deck. 

TELLS OF THE KESCUE 

A. passenger on the Carpathia made the following 
statement: 

“I was awakened at about half past twelve at night 
by a commotion on the decks which seemed unusual, 
but there was no excitement. As the boat was moving 
I paid little attention to it, and went to sleep again.. 
About three o’clock I again awakened. I noticed that 
the boat had stopped. I went to the deck. The Car - 
pathia had changed its course. 

“Lifeboats were sighted and began to arrive—and 
soon, one by one, they drew up to our side. There were 
sixteen in all, and the transferring of the passengers 
was most pitiable. The adults were assisted in climbing 
the rope ladder by ropes adjusted to their waists. Lit¬ 
tle children and babies were hoisted to the deck in bags. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


53 


FEW IN SOME BOATS 

“Some of the boats were crowded, a few were not 
half full. This I could not understand. Some people 
were in full evening dress. Others were in their night 
clothes and were wrapped in blankets. These, with im¬ 
migrants in all sorts of shapes, were hurried into the 
saloon indiscriminately for a hot breakfast. They had 
been in the open boats four and five hours in the most 
biting air I ever experienced. 

“There were husbands without wives, wives without 
husbands, parents without children and children without 
parents. But there was no demonstration. No sobs— 
scarcely a word spoken. They seemed to be stunned. 
Immediately after breakfast, divine service was held in 
the saloon. 

“One woman died in the lifeboat; three others died 
soon after reaching our deck. Their bodies were buried 
in the sea at five o’clock that afternoon. None of the 
rescued had any clothing except what they had on, and 
a relief committee was formed and our passengers con¬ 
tributed enough for their immediate needs. 

TELLS OF FINAL PLUNGE 

“When its lifeboats pushed away from the Titanic> 
the steamer was brilliantly lighted, the band was play¬ 
ing and the captain was standing on the bridge giving 
directions. The bow was well submerged and the keel 


54 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


rose high above the water. The next moment every¬ 
thing disappeared. The survivors were so close to the 
sinking steamer that they feared the lifeboats would be 
drawn into the vortex. 

“On our way back to New York we steamed along 
the edge of a field of ice which seemed limitless. As 
far as the eye could see to the north there was no blue 
water. At one time I counted thirteen icebergs/’ 



—Cleveland Plain Dealer 


























CHAPTER VI 

SURVIVORS REACH NEW YORE 
Hospitals Sent Ambulances and Nurses—Invests 

GATION BY THE SENATE DECIDED UPON 

At 8 o’clock automobiles and carriages containing 
relatives and friends of the survivors began arriving at 
the White Star pier. When the Carpathia was sighted 
coming up the river at 8:45, more than 500 automobiles 
and other vehicles were packed within the police lines. 

Significant of the tragic side of the event was the 
frequent arrivals of ambulances and auto trucks from 
all the big department stores, filled with cots, invalid 
chairs and surgical appliances. Right of way was given 
the ambulances and they were permitted'to park directly 
alongside the pier entrance. 

HOSPITALS SENT NURSES 

From St. Vincent’s Hospital came twelve black- 
robed sisters to nurse the injured, and all the ambu¬ 
lances of the institution except one. The full surgical 
staff of the hospital also was in attendance. Ambu¬ 
lances and surgeons were on hand from St. Luke’s Hos¬ 
pital, Bellevue, Roosevelt and Flower hospitals, and a 
great number of physicians who had volunteered their 
services. 

55 


56 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


The Sisters of Charity found work to do before the 
arrival of the Carpathia. Women in the throng await¬ 
ing relatives became hysterical with dread and anxiety 
and the black-robed sisters went to them, put their arms 
about them and comforted them and administered 
restoratives. 

Eva Booth, commander of the Salvation Army, and 
fifty assistants, who meet all incoming vessels to min¬ 
ister to immigrants, were allowed within the police lines, 
but they were turned back at the entrance of the Cunard 
pier and only Miss Booth and three of her party were 
admitted. 

BROKERS BROUGHT $20,000 

Among those on the pier were six members of the 
New York Stock Exchange, with $20,000, which had 
been collected on the floor of the exchange. They had 
instructions to use the money among the steerage pas¬ 
sengers in any way they saw fit. 

The women of the relief committee to look after 
the steerage passengers arrived in autos and theater 
buses, in which the sufferers were to be taken to hos¬ 
pitals or shelters. Gimbel Brothers sent all their de¬ 
livery wagons to the pier, laden with first aid appliances 
and cots, and placed them at the disposal of the women’s 
relief committee. In addition, the firm announced they 
would provide quarters for 200 sufferers overnight in 
their store. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


57 


CALLED FOR MORE NURSES 

Relatives and friends of the survivors had reached 
the pier before half past eight o’clock, but for another 
half hour automobiles arrived containing physicians and 
nurses and loaded with first &id appliances. The sur¬ 
geons and nurses were in working attire, the women in 
white gowns and caps, the surgeons in white duck 
trousers and jackets. 

A party of four surgeons and ten nurses arrived in 
three automobile buses and as they hurried to the pier 
one of them said they had been sent by Mrs. William 
K. Vanderbilt. 

In spite of the number of physicians that had 
reached the pier at 8:39, it was found there was a dearth 
of nurses and hurried calls were sent out to all the city 
institutions and private hospitals and nurses’ exchanges. 
In response to these calls nurses began arriving in taxi¬ 
cabs and autos, and before the Carpathia was warped 
into its pier there were more than 200 nurses awaiting 
to go on board. 

Ropes dotted with green lights were stretched for 
seventy-five yards in front of the piers to hold back the 
throngs. No one without a special permit was allowed 
beyond these ropes. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had a special 
train waiting at its station at Thirty-fourth street and 


58 


WRECK OF. THE TITANIC 


a number of taxicabs to convey survivors desiring to 
go to Philadelphia to their friends. 

News that the Carpathia was outside of the harbor 
and rapidly approaching sent thousands of persons to 
vantage points along the city’s water front. At the 
Battery, the first point on Manhattan Island which the 
rescue ship would pass, a crowd estimated at 10,000 
persons assembled. Other vantage points further 
uptown were crowded with spectators eager to catch the 
first glimpse of the approaching Carpathia . 

Investigation decided on 

Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan and 
Senator Newlands of Nevada arrived in New York at 
9 p. m. April 18 to summon survivors of the Titanic 
and officials of the International Mercantile Marine to 
testify before the Senate subcommittee appointed to 
investigate the disaster of the sea. 

When the senators arrived at the Pennsylvania sta¬ 
tion they were informed that the Carpathia was at its 
pier. The committee had intended boarding a revenue 
cutter and going down the bay to meet the Carpathia 
and boarding it. Upon learning this the senators 
secured cabs and announced they were going direct to 
the pier. 


CHAPTER YI3 


LAST MAN OFF TELLS HORRORS OF 
SHIPWRECK 

Colonel Gracie, U. S. A., Rescued Aftek Going 
Down on Titanic's Topmost Deck—Heroes on 
All Sides—Mrs. Isidor Straus Drowned, Refus¬ 
ing to Desert Husband—Astor Praised for 
Conduct. 

Colonel Archibald Grade, U. S. A., the last man 
saved after the wreck of the Titanic , went down with the 
vessel, but was picked up. He was met at the dock in 
New York by his daughter, who had arrived from 
Washington, and his son-in-law, Paul H. Fabricius. 

Colonel Grade told a remarkable story of personal 
hardship and denied emphatically reports that there 
was any panic on board the steamship after the disaster. 
He praised in the highest terms the behavior of both the 
passengers and crew and paid a -high tribute to the 
heroism of the women passengers. 

“Mrs. Isidor Straus,” said Colonel Grade, “went 
to her death because she would not desert her husband. 
Although he pleaded with her to take her place in the 
59 


60 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


boat, she steadfastly refused, and when the ship settled 
at the head the two were engulfed by the wave that 
swept the vessel.” 

DRIVEN TO TOP DECK 

Colonel Gracie told how he was driven to the top¬ 
most deck when the ship settled and was the sole sur¬ 
vivor after the wave that swept it just before its final 
plunge had passed. 

“I jumped with the wave,” said he, “just as I often 
have jumped with the breakers at the seashore, l^y 
great good fortune I managed to grasp the brass rail 
ing on the deck above, and I hung on by might and 
main. 

“When the ship plunged down I was forced to let 
go and was swirled around and around for what seemed 
to be an interminable time. Eventually I came to the 
surface to find the sea a mass of tangled wreckage. 

“Luckily, I was unhurt, and, casting about, man¬ 
aged to seize a wooden grating floating near by. When 
I had recovered my breath I discovered a canvas and 
cork life raft which had floated up. 

THIRTY SAVED ON RAFT 

“A man whose name I did not learn was struggling 
toward this rafte from some wreckage to which he had 
clung. I cast off and helped him to get onto the raft, 
and we then began the work of rescuing those who 


WRECK OR THE TITANIC 61 

had jumped into the sea and were floundering in the 
water. 

“When dawn broke there were thirty of us on the 
raft, standing knee-deep in the icy water and afraid 
to move lest the craft be overturned. 

“Several other unfortunates, benumbed and half 
dead, besought us to save them, and one or two made 
efforts to reach us, but we had to warn them away. 
Had we made any effort to save them we all might 
have perished. 

LONG HOURS OF HORROR 

“The hours that elapsed before we were picked up 
by the Car'pathia were the longest and most terrible that 
I ever spent. Practically without any sensation of feel¬ 
ing because of the icy ^\ater, we were almost dropping 
from fatigue. 

“We were afraid to turn around to learn whether 
we were seen by passing craft, and when some one who 
was facing astern passed the word that something that 
looked like a steamer was coming up one of them 
became hysterical under the strain. The rest of us, too, 
were nearing the breaking point.” 

Colonel Gracie denied with emphasis that any men 
were fired upon, and declared that only once was a 
revolver discharged. 

“This,” the colonel said, “was done for the purpose 
of intimidating some steerage passengers who had 


62 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


tumbled into a boat before it was prepared for launch¬ 
ing. The shot was fired in the air, and when the for¬ 
eigners were told that the next would be directed at 
them they promptly returned to the deck. There was 
no confusion and no panic.” 

Contrary to the general expectation, there was no 
jarring impact when the vessel struck, according to the 
army officer. He was in his berth when the Titanic 
smashed into the submerged portion of the iceberg and 
was aroused by the jar. 

STOPPED WATCH FIXED TIME 

Colonel Gracie looked at his watch, he said, and 
found it was just midnight. The ship sank with him 
at 2:22 a. m., for his watch stopped at that hour. 

“Before I retired,” said Colonel Gracie, “I had a 
long chat with Charles M. Hays, president of the 
Grand Trunk Railroad. One of the last things Mr. 
Hays said was this: 

“ ‘The White Star, the Cunard and the Hamburg- 
SAmerican lines are devoting their attention and inge¬ 
nuity to vying with one another to attain supremacy in 
luxurious ships and in making speed records. The time 
will soon come when this will be checked by some appal¬ 
ling disaster.’ 

“Poor fellow—a few hours later he was dead.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


63 


GAVE PRAISE TO ASTOR 

“The conduct of Colonel John Jacob Astor was 
deserving of the highest praise / 5 Colonel Grade de¬ 
clared. “The millionaire New Yorker devoted all his 
energies to saving his young bride, formerly Miss Force 
of New York, who was in delicate health. 

“Colonel Astor helped us in our efforts to get Mrs. 
Astor in the boat , 55 said Colonel Grade. “I lifted her 
into the boat and as she took her place Colonel Astor 
requested permission of the second officer to go with 
her for her own protection. 

“ ‘No, sir , 5 replied the officer, ‘not a man shall go 
on a boat until the women are all off . 5 

COLONEL AIDED WITH BOATS 

“Colonel Aster then inquired the number of the 
boat which was being lowered away and turned to the 
work of clearing the other boats and reassuring the 
frightened and nervous women. 

“By this time the ship had begun to list frightfully 
to port. This became so dangerous that the secona 
officer ordered every one to rush to starboard. 

“This we did, and we found the crew trying to get 
a boat off in that quarter. Here I saw the last of 
John B. Thayer and George B. Widener of Phila¬ 
delphia.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


IGNORED WARNINGS CHARGED 

Colonel Graeie said that despite the warnings of 
icebergs no slowing down of speed was ordered by the 
commander of the Titanic. There were other warnings, 
too, he said. 

“In the twenty-four hours’ run ending the 14th,” 
declared Colonel Graeie, “the ship’s run was 546 miles, 
and we were told that the next twenty-four hours would 
see even a better record posted. 

“No diminution of speed was indicated in the run 
and the engines kept up their steady work. When Sun¬ 
day evening came we all noticed the increased cold, 
which gave plain warning that the ship was in close 
proximity to icebergs or ice fields. 

“The officers, I am credibly informed, had been 
advised by wireless from other ships of the presence of 
icebergs and dangerous floes in that vicinity. The sea 
was as smooth as glass and the weather clear, so that it 
seemed that there was no occasion for fear. 

“When the vessel struck the passengers were so 
little alarmed that they joked over the matter. The 
few who appeared upon deck early had taken their time 
to dress properly and there was not the slightest 
indication of panic. 



Photo Underwood A Underwood 

J. BRUCE ISMAY 

White Star Line Manager 
















WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


65 


“Some fragments of ice had fallen on the deck and 
these were picked up and passed around by some of 
the facetious ones, who offered them as mementos of the 
occasion. On the port side, a glance over the side failed 
to show any evidence of damage, and the vessel seemed 
;o be on an even keel. 

“James Clinch Smith and I, however, soon found 
the vessel was listing heavily. A few minutes later the 
officers ordered men and women to don life-preservers.” 

WOMEN REFUSED RESCUE 

One of the last women seen by Colonel Grade, he 
said, was Miss Evans, of New York, who virtually re¬ 
fused to be rescued, because “she had been told by a 
fortune teller in London that she would meet her death 
on the water.” 

A young English woman who requested that her 
name be omitted told a thrilling story of her experi¬ 
ence in one of the collapsible boats, which was manned 
by eight of the crew from the Titanic . The boat was 
in command of the fifth officer, H. Lowe, whom she 
credited with saving the lives of many persons. 

Before the lifeboat was launched Lowe passed along 
the port deck of the steamer, commanding the people 
not to jump into the boats and otherwise restraining 
them from swamping the craft. When the collapsible 
was launched Lowe succeeded in putting up a mast 
and a small sail. 


66 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


The officer collected the other boats together ..ad, 
in case where some were short of adequate crews, di¬ 
rected an exchange by which each was adequately 
manned. He threw lines which linked the boats two by 
two, and all thus moved together. 

Later on Lowe went back to the wreck with the 
crew of one of the boats and succeeded in picking up 
some of those who had jumped overboard, and were 
swimming about. On his way back to the Carpathia 
he passed one of the collapsible boats which was on the 
point of sinking with thirty passengers aboard, most of 
them in scant night clothing. They were rescued just 
in the nick of time. 


CHAPTER VIII 


HEROISM ON THE TITANIC 

President Taft^s Estimate of Major Butt—Ben 
Guggenheim Not a Coward—PIeroic Musicians 
—“Nearer,, My God, to Thee/” 

When President Taft heard that women and chil¬ 
dren had perished in the wreck of the Titanic he spoke 
his estimate of Archie Butt in saying: “I do not expect, 
I do not want, to see him back.” That Mr. Taft knew 
his man was proved by the words of the rescued. 

Note this: Benjamin Guggenheim sent word to his 
wife; 5 ‘Tell her I played the game out straight to the 
end. No woman shall be left aboard this ship because 
Ben Guggenheim was a coward.” 

And this: “And then Mrs. Straus would call him 
(Mr. Straus) by his first name and say her place was 
with him, that she had lived with him and that she would 
die with him.” And Mr. Straus said: “I am not too old 
to sacrifice myself for a woman.” 

And this of Mrs. Allison: “The boat was full and 
she grasped Lorraine with one arm and her husband 
with the other and stood smiling as she saw us rowing 
away.” 


67 


68 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


And this of Captain Smith: “He swam to where a 
baby was drowning, carried it in his arms to a lifeboat, 
and then swam back to his ship to die.” And this, the 
command given by Captain Smith bringing order out 
of chaos: “Be British, my men.” 

And lastly: Kraus, Hume, Taylor, Woodward, 
Clark, Brailey, Breicoux and Hartley, when the last 
faint hope was gone, lined up on deck, stood in water up 
to their knees and played “Nearer, My God to Thee,” 
as 1,500 souls passed from life. 

HEROIC MUSICIANS 

Except in the case of the English ship Birkenhead, 
when the soldiers on board stood at parade after the 
women and children had been taken into the boats and 
the band played the national air as the ship went down, 
we do not recall a parallel to the conduct of the musi¬ 
cians on board the Titanic, who, as all accounts agree, 
ceased not their inspiriting ministrations until they were 
engulfed by the waves. 

Indeed, it seems even to be a question if the later 
instance of heroism was not greater than the former, for 
the bandsmen on the Birkenhead were enlisted men, 
obeying orders like soldiers, while it is scarcely to be 
thought that the obligations of the musicians on the 
Titanic required them to play with death confronting 
them. There has been a marvelous upwelling of sym- 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


69 


pathy for the families made destitute by the awful 
catastrophe, and, perhaps, a too great multiplicity of 
relief funds; hut there is, nevertheless, something espe¬ 
cially appealing in Dr. Frank Damrosch’s suggestion 
that a special contribution be asked for the families of 
those who gave courage and comfort to the doomed 
victims of the steamship; and died to do it. 

MAJOR BUTT DIED LIKE A SOLDIER 

A graphic story of the heroism of Major Archibald 
W. Butt on the Titanic was told feelingly by Miss 
Marie Young, a former resident of Yew York, before 
going to her home in Washington, D. C. Miss Young 
is believed to have been the last woman to leave the 
Titanic and the last of the survivors to have talked with 
the President’s military aid. She and Major Butt 
had long been friends. Miss Young having been a spe¬ 
cial music instructor to the children of Theodore Roose¬ 
velt when he was President. Miss Young said: 

“The last person to whom I spoke on board the 
Titanic was Archie Butt, and his good, brave face 
jmiling at me from the deck of the steamer was the last 
I could distinguish as the lifeboat I was in pulled away 
from the steamer’s side. 

“Archie himself put me into the boat, wrapped blan¬ 
kets around me and tucked me in as carefully as if we 
were starting on a motor ride. He himself entered the 


70 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


boat with me, performing the little courtesies as calmly 
and with as smiling a face as if death was far away in¬ 
stead of being but a few moments removed from him. 
When he had carefully wrapped me up he stepped on 
the gunwale of the boat, and, lifting his hat, smiled 
down at me. 

“ ‘Goodby, Miss Young,’ he said, bravely and smil¬ 
ingly. ‘Luck is with you. Will you kindly remember 
me to all the folks back home? 

“Then he stepped to the deck of the steamer, and 
the boat I was in was lowered to the water. It was the 
last boat to leave the ship; of this I am perfectly certain. 
And I know that I am the last of those who were saved 
to whom Archie Butt spoke. As our boat was lowered 
and left the side of the steamer Archie was still stand¬ 
ing at the rail looking down at me. His hat was raised, 
and the same old, genial, brave smile was on his face. 
The picture he made as he stood there, hat in hand, 
brave and smiling, was one that will always linger in my 
memory.” 

Mrs. Henry B. Harris, in an interview, also de¬ 
scribed the heroism of Major Butt. She said: 

“Archie Butt was a major to the last. God never 
made a finer nobleman than he. The sight of that man, 
calm, gentle, and yet as firm as a rock, never will leave 
me. The American Army is honored by him, and the 
(Way he showed some of the other men how to behave 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


71 


when women and children were suffering that awful 
mental fear that came when we had to be huddled in 
those boats. Major Butt was near me, and I know very 
nearly everything he did. 

“When the order came to take to the boats he be¬ 
came as one in supreme command. You would have 
thought he was at a White House reception, so cool and 
calm was he. When the time came he was a man to be 
feared. In one of the earlier boats fifty women, it 
seemed, were about to be lowered, when a man, sud¬ 
denly panic-stricken, ran to the stern of it. Major Butt 
shot one arm out, caught him by the neck, and jerked 
him backward like a pillow. His head cracked against 
a rail and he was stunned. 

“ ‘Sorry,’ said Major Butt; ‘but women will be at¬ 
tended to first or I’ll break every damned bone in your 
body.’ 

“The boats were lowered away one by one, and as I 
stood by my husband he said to me, ‘Thank God for 
Archie Butt.’ Perhaps Major Butt heard it, for he 
turned his face toward us for a second. Just at that 
time a young man was arguing to get into a lifeboat, 
and Butt had hold of the lad by the arm like a big 
brother and appeared to be telling him to keep his head. 

“How inspiring he was. I stayed until almost the 
last and know what a man Archie Butt was. They put 
me in a collapsible boat. I was one of three women in 


72 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


the first cabin in the thing; the rest were steerage peo¬ 
ple. Major Butt helped those poor, frightened steer¬ 
age people so wonderfully, tenderly and yet with such 
cool and manly firmness. He was a soldier to the last. 
He was one of God’s greatest noblemen, and I think 
I can say he was an example of bravery even to the offi¬ 
cers of the ship. He gave up his life to save others.” 



The Eternal Collision 











CHAPTER IX 


THRILLING EXPERIENCES OF 
SURVIVORS 

Marvelous Behavior of Men Passenuers—A Swel 
ish Officer's Story—Discipline Maintained tc 
the End 


FIRST WOMAN IN LIFEBOATS 

Mrs. Dickinson Bishop, of Detroit, said: 

“I was the first woman in the first boat. I was in the 
boat four hours before being picked up by the Carpathia. 
I was in bed at the time the crash came, got up and 
dressed and went back to bed, being assured there was 
no danger. There were very few passengers on the deck 
when I reached there. There was little or no panic, and 
the discipline of the Titanic’s crew was perfect . Thank 
God my husband was saved also.” 

P. D. Daly of England said he was above deck A 
and that he was the last man to scramble into the col¬ 
lapsible boat. He said that for six hours he was wet 
to his waist with the icy waters that filled the boat nearly 
to the gunwales. 

MEN PRAISED BY WOMAN 

One of the few women able to give an account of 
the disaster was Miss Cornelia Andrews of Hudson,. 

73 


74 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


N. Y. Miss Andrews said she was in the last boat to 
be picked up. 

“The behavior of the men,” she said, “was wonder¬ 
ful—the most marvelous I have ever beheld.” 

“Did you see any shooting?” she was asked. 

“No,” she replied, “but one officer did say he would 
shoot some of the steerage who were trying to crowd 
into the boats. Many jumped from the decks. I saw 
a boat sink.” 

Miss Andrews was probably referring to the col¬ 
lapsible boat which overturned. She said that the sink¬ 
ing of the ship was attended by a noise such as might 
be made by the boilers exploding. She was watching 
the ship, she said, and it looked as if it blew up. 

STORY BY SWEDISH OFFICER 

Lieutenant Hakan Bjornstern Steffanson of the 
Swedish army, who was journeying to this country on 
the Titanic to see about the exportation of pulp to Swe- 
den, narrowly escaped being carried down in the sink* 
ing ship when he leaped out from a lower deck to a life¬ 
boat that was being lowered past him. Henry Woolner 
of London also made the leap in safety. Lieutenant 
Steffanson thinks he made the last boat to leave the ship 
and was only about a hundred yards away when it went 
down with a sudden lurch. 

He told about his experience as he lay in the bed at 
the Hotel Gotham, utterly worn out by the strain he 


WRECK Ol 


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had been under despite his six feet of muscle. It was 
also the first time he had discarded the dress suit he haa 
worn since the shock of collision startled him from his 
chair in the cafe where he and Mr. Woolner were 
talking. 

“It was not a severe shock/’ said the lieutenant. “It 
did not throw any one from his seat; rather it was a twist¬ 
ing motion that shook the boat terribly. Most of the 
women were in bed. We ran up to the smoking room, 
where most of the men were rushing about trying to find 
out what was the matter, but there was a singular ab¬ 
sence of apprehension, probably because we believed so 
thoroughly in the massive hulk in which we were 
traveling. 


SOUGHT TO CALM WOMEN 


“We helped to calm some of the women and advised 
them to dress and then set about getting them in boats. 
There seemed to be realty no reason for it, but it was 
done because it was the safest thing to do. 

“The men went about their task quietly. Why 
should they have done otherwise—the shock was so 
slight to cause such ruin. Mr. Woolner and I then went 
to a lower deck. It was deserted, but as we wished to 
find out what had happened we went down a deck lower. 
Then for the first time did we realize the seriousness of 
that twisting which had rent the ship nearly asunder. 



76 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


We saw the water pouring into the hull and where we 
finally stood water rose to our knees. 

“Woolner and I decided to get out as quickly as we 
could and as we turned to rush upward we saw sliding 
down the portside of the drowning ship a collapsible life¬ 
boat. Most of those it contained were from the steer¬ 
age, but two of the women were from the first cabin. 
It was in charge of two sailors. 

JUMPED INTO SWAYING BOAT 

“ ‘Let’s not take any chances,’ I shouted to Wool¬ 
ner, and as it came nearly opposite us, swinging in and 
out slowly, we jumped and fortunately landed in it. 
The boat teetered a bit and then swiftly shot down to 
the water. Woolner and I took oars and started to pull 
with all our might to get from the ship before she sank, 
for now there was little doubt of what would happen. 

“We could see some gathered in the steerage, 
huddled together, as we pulled away, and then cries of 
fear came to us. 

“We hardly reached a point a hundred yards away 
*—and I believe the boat I was in was the last to get 
safely away—when the horrible screams came through 
the night and the ship plunged swiftly down. It was so 
terribly sudden, and then there was a vast quiet, dur¬ 
ing which we shivered over the oars and the women 
cried hysterically. Some of them tried to jump over- 


77 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

board and we had to struggle in the shaky boat to hold 
them until they quieted down. 

VICTIMS FLOATED TO SURFACE 

“There was little widespread suction from the sink¬ 
ing ship, strange to say, and shortly after it went down 
people came to the surface, some of them struggling 
and fighting to remain afloat, and some were very still. 
But they all sank before we could reach them. 

‘ It was bitterly cold and most of us were partly wet. 
It seemed hours before the Carpathia came up and took 
us aboard. Why, it was so cold that on board the 
Titanic we had been drinking hot drinks as if it were 
winter. The weather was absolutely clear, there was not 
the slightest fog or mist.” 

BOILER BLAST SPLIT VESSEL 

Mrs. E. W. Carter left the Carpathia terribly shaken 
by her experience. She was met at the pier by Albert 
B. Ashforth. Mrs. Carter could not talk of the collision 
and the wreck, but Mr. Ashforth said that what had 
impressed her was the last boiler explosion. 

“Mrs. Carter said that the shock of the collision was 
nothing,” said Mr. Ashforth, “but the last boiler ex¬ 
plosion tore the ship to pieces. She was in the last boat 
off.” 

What impressed E. Z. Taylor of Philadelphia most 
was the lack of excitement when the ship struck. He 
said he was on deck when the Titanic hit the iceberg 


78 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


and that he did not see any iceberg and did not think 
that anybody else did. Mr. Taylor said that he saw 
Mr. Ismay get into a boat fifteen minutes before the 
Titanic sank. 

BAND PLAYED UNTIL END 

Three sisters, Mrs. Robert C. Cornell, the wife of 
Magistrate Cornell; Mrs. E. B. Appleton, and Mrs. 
John Murray Brown of Acton, Mass., went immedi¬ 
ately to the home of Magistrate Cornell and related to 
George S. Keyes, a son-in-law of Mrs. Brown, what 
they had gone through. Mrs. Brown’s story is the most 
vivid, as she left the Titanic in the last boat that got 
away safely. 

“The discipline was magnificent,” she said. “The 
band played, marching from deck to deck, and as the 
ship was engulfed you could hear the music plainly. 
The last I saw of the band the musicians were up to 
their knees in water. 

“My two sisters and I were separated and each got 
in different boats. The captain stood on the bridge, and 
when the water covered the ship he was offered assist¬ 
ance and told to get in one of the lifeboats, but he re¬ 
fused to do so. 

WATCHED PARTING OF ASTORS 

“Mrs. Astor was in the lifeboat with my sister, Mrs* 
Cornell. I saw Col. Astor help her into the boat. He 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


T9 


said he would wait for the men. I saw him on the ship 
after our boat left the Titanic . 

“We had a rough experience, many of the women 
having to use the oars. Mrs. Appleton’s hands were 
badly torn, but I understand there was not a single case 
of illness among the survivors because of exposure. 

“Picture a situation such as this! Another woman 
and myself were waiting to be helped into the lifeboat. 
The woman held my arm. I do not know her name. 
There was just one seat left in the boat. The woman 
said to the men, ‘This woman has children; let her go 
first. I’ll take the next boat.’ I believe she was put in 
the next boat. That boat was swamped.” 

DROVE SEVERAL MEN BACK 

Mrs. Ada Clark, an English woman who lost her 
husband in the wreck, stayed in her berth for half an 
hour after the collison. 

“The shock was so light that it did not disturb me,” 
she said, “and my husband told me to go back to sleep 
again. Then the stewardess came along and yelled, 
‘Everybody on deck.’ There was no disturbance in 
filling the small boats My husband put me in, kissed 
me goodbye and commended me to God. After I got 
into the boat two men tried to step in. An officer said 
that the boat was only for women and they stepped 
right back. 


30 V/Jlf ’CK OF THE TITANIC 

“I was in my night dress. The cold reached my 
brain and everybody in the boat was so benumbed from 
cold that we could not realize what a terrible thing had 
happened. Then somebody said, ‘It’s gone,’ and we 
sat there without showing any emotion.” 

SAVED WITH HER CHILDREN 

Mrs. Allen O. Becker, who is attached to the Ameri¬ 
can Lutheran Missionary Society of Foreign Missions, 
and her three children, Ruth, 11; Marion, 8, and 
Richard, 6, were rescued from the Titanic . 

She said she was awakened about 10:30 and a 
steward told her that everything was safe and that she 
could go back to sleep. In a half hour she was awakened 
by a steward who told her to take her three children in 
a hurry, as they were going to be put into a lifeboat. 
They did not get a chance to dress. 

Mrs. Becker said that a steward took two of the chil¬ 
dren and she went with Ruth, but they all met in the 
same lifeboat. She said that they were in the boat 
until almost 5 o’clock when they were picked up. 

JUMPED INTO SMALL LIFEBOAT 

Abraham Hyman, a steerage passenger from Man¬ 
chester, England, won his safety by leaving the steerage 
and going into the first cabin. 

“I got alongside of a boat,” he said, “and as they low¬ 
ered it, full of passengers, I just crowded in beside the 



Copyright Underwood k Underwood 

MR. C. M. HAYS 

President of the Grand Trunk Railroad, who lost his life. 

and daughter Margaret were saved 


Mrs. Hays 










WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


81 


man at the tiller. They could have taken fifteen more 
people in our boat. There was no commotion in the 
first cabin. I heard that a man was shot in a panic in. 
the steerage. When our boat got into the water it 
drifted under the exhaust of the Titanic and we were 
nearly swamped. We rowed off for about half a mile 
and then saw the lights on the Titanic sink gradually 
out of sight. As the Titanic sank the lights went down, 
one after another.” 

Hyman said he heard of one man who had been sit¬ 
ting on a pile of deck chairs when the last explosion 
came wko was blown off with the deck chairs. The man 
was found in the ocean on the deck chairs. 

BOILERS REND GREAT SHIP 

John Snyder and his wife of Indianapolis told how 
the boilers of the Titanic exploded and literally tore the 
ship to pieces. 

“We were in our stateroom and I was asleep,” Mr. 
Snyder said. “The jar that came when the ship struck 
the berg did not even awaken me, and later when my 
wife aroused me we could hear persons running about 
the ship. Then a steward came and told us that there 
was danger and that we had better dress at once. 

“We did dress and went on the second deck. There 
seemed no great excitement among the passengers, al¬ 
though the officers of the ship were giving orders to 


S3 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

the crew to lower the lifeboats and were telling the pas¬ 
sengers to get into them. 

“We were told to get into a boat and we did, al¬ 
though at the time I much preferred staying on the 
Titanic . It looked safe on the Titanic and far from safe 
in the lifeboat. Before we knew what was being done 
with us we were swung from the Titanic into the sea 
and then the boat w r as so crowded that the women lay 
on the bottom to give the crew a chance to row. 

TITANIC SANK GRADUALLY 

“We went about 200 yards from the Titanic . We 
could see nothing wrong except that the big boat 
seemed to be settling at the bow. Still we could not 
make ourselves believe that the Titanic would sink. But 
the Titanic continued to settle, and we could see the pas¬ 
sengers plunging about the decks and hear their cries. 

“We moved farther away. Suddenly there came 
two sharp explosions as the water rushed into the boiler 
room and the boilers exploded. 

“The explosions counteracted the effect of the suc¬ 
tion made when the big boat went to the bottom and it 
is more than probable that this saved some of the life¬ 
boats from being drawn to the bottom. 

EXPLOSIONS KILLED MANY 

“Following the explosion we could see persons hang¬ 
ing to the side railings of the sinking boat. It is my 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


83 


opinion that many persons were killed by these ex¬ 
plosions and were not drowned. 

“Others of the passengers were tossed into the water. 
For an hour after the explosions we could see them 
swimming about in the water or floating on the life 
belts. We could hear their groans and their cries for 
help, but we did not go to them. To have done this 
would have swamped our own boat and everybody would 
have been lost. Several persons did float up to our 
boat and we took them on board. 

“After we had got aboard the Carpathia we did not 
see J. Bruce Ismay until today, when he came on deck 
for a short time. He seemed badly broken up. You 
would hardly have known him.” 

PERIL UNKNOWN AT FIRST 

A Mr. Chambers, one of the survivors, had this to 
say: 

“The Titanic struck the iceberg. The passengers 
ran out, but, believing that the ship could not sink and 
being assured of this by the officers, again went back to 
their staterooms. After about two hours the alarm 
was sent out and the passengers started to enter the life¬ 
boats. There was nothing like a panic at first, as all 
believed that there were plenty of lifeboats to go 
around.” 

After the lifeboat in which Mr. Chambers was had 


84 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


gone about 400 yards from the ship, those in it saw the 
Titanic begin to settle quickly and there was a rush for 
the remaining lifeboats. One was swamped. 

The great ship sank slowly by its head and no suc¬ 
tion was felt by the boat in which Mr. Chambers was. 

GREEN LANTERNS SAVED MANY 

Henry Stengel of Newark said it was only the fore¬ 
thought of a member of a boat crew who was quick 
witted enough to snatch up three green lights that saved 
a number of the lives of those adrift in the tiny lifeboat. 

“These green lights,” he said, “shining through the 
darkness enabled the other boats’ crews to keep close 
together in the ice filled waters.” 

Mr. Stengel put his wife in a boat and then fol¬ 
lowed. He said that early the next morning, shortly 
after they had been picked up, they saw floating far 
away a gigantic iceberg, with two peaks shining in the 
morning sun. There was the berg that sent the Titanic 
to the bottom, he thought. 

JUMPED INTO SEA; PICKED UP 

E. Z. Taylor of Philadelphia, one of the survivors, 
jumped into the sea just three minutes before the boat 
sank. Pie told a graphic story as he came from the 
Carpathia. 

“I was eating when the boat struck the iceberg,” he 
said. “There was an awful shock that made the boat 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


85 


tremble from stem to stern. I did not realize for some 
time what had happened. No one seemed to know the 
extent of the accident. We were told that an iceberg 
had been struck by the ship. 

“I felt the boat rise and it seemed to me that it was 
riding over the ice. I ran out on deck and then I could 
see ice. It was a veritable sea of ice and the boat was 
rocking over it. I should say that parts of the iceberg 
were eighty feet high, but it had been broken into sec¬ 
tions, probably by our ship. 

“I jumped into the ocean and was picked up by one 
of the boats. I never expected to see land again. I 
waited on board the boat until the lights went out. It 
seemed to me that the discipline on board was won¬ 
derful.” 

SCENE AT RESCUE DESCRIBED 

A passenger aboard the rescue ship Cavpcithia , Miss 
Sue Eva Rule, a sister of Judge Virgil Rule of St. 
Louis, Mo., detailed the thrilling scenes which marked 
the rescue of the survivors of the greatest maritime 
tragedy of the age. 

“Unknown to the sleeping passengers, the ship 
turned abruptly to the north. None knew of the sud¬ 
den change of course and the first intimation anybody 
got of the fact that anything unusual was about to take 
place was the order given the steward to prepare break¬ 
fast for 3,000. 


86 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“The tidings ran through the ship like wildfire and 
long before the Cunarder had come within the scene of 
the tragedy we were all on deck. 

FIRST OF BOATS SIGHTED 

“Just as day broke a tiny craft was sighted rowing 
towards us and as it came closer we saw women huddled 
together, the stronger ones manning the oars. The 
first to come aboard was a nurse maid who had wrapped 
in a coat an eleven-months-old baby, the only one of a 
family of five persons to be rescued. 

“The men and women both seemed dazed. Most of 
them had almost perished with the cold, and some of 
them who had been literally thrown into the lifeboats 
perished from exposure. 

“One of the most harrowing scenes I ever saw was 
the service of thanksgiving, followed by the prayers for 
the dead, which during the incoming of the little band 
of survivors, took place in the dining saloon of the Car - 
pathia. The moans of the women and the cries of little 
children as their loss was brought home to them were 
heartrending. The hope that by some means their be¬ 
loved ones would be saved never left the survivors. 

SURVIVORS IN STRANGE DRESS 

“How those who were saved survived the exposure 
is a miracle. One woman came aboard devoid of under¬ 
wear, a Turkish towel wrapped about her waist served 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 87 

as a corset, while a magnificent evening wrap was her 
only protection. 

‘'Women in evening frocks and white satin slippers 
and children wrapped in steamer rugs were ordinary 
sights and very soon the passengers themselves were 
almost in as bad a plight as the rescued. Trunks were, 
unpacked and clothing distributed right and left. Fin¬ 
ally the steamer rugs were ripped apart and sewed into 
impromptu garments. 

“My first view of the first boat sighted led me to think 
we were picking up the crew of a dirigible. Back of the 
boat loomed in the shadowy dawn the huge iceberg 
which had sent the Titanic to the bottom. The life¬ 
boat looked like the usual boat which swings from a 
balloon. 

WOMEN DISCUSSED SCENES 

“After an hour or so of rest the only relief the 
women who had been literally torn from their husbands 
seemed to have was in discussing the last scenes. Shoot¬ 
ing was heard by many in the lifeboats just before 
the ship took its final plunge and sank from sight, 
and the opinion of many was that the men rather) 
than drown shot themselves. 

“Mrs. Astor, who was one of the first to come 
aboard, was taken at once to the captain’s room. Others 
were distributed among the cabins, the Carpatliias pas¬ 
sengers sleeping on the floors of the saloons, in the bath* 


88 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


rooms, and on the tables throughout the ship in order 
to let the survivors of the wreck have as much comfort 
as the ship afforded. 

“One woman came aboard with a six months’ baby 
she had never seen until the moment it was thrust into 
her arms as she swung into the lifeboat. Nothing could 
equal the generosity and helpfulness of the Carpathians 
passengers.” 

DOUBTED WORD AT FIRST 

Mrs. Louise Mansfield Ogden, of Manhattan, des¬ 
cribed tonight how she felt when she heard the Car - 
pathias whistle sounding early in the morning. Mrs. 
Ogden asked her husband if there was a fog. Mr. 
Ogden had left the stateroom, however, and did not 
explain until some ten minutes later. The ship had 
then slowed down perceptibly, and Mrs. Ogden was 
pretty nervous. 

Then her husband returned and told her that there 
had been a great accident and that the Carpatliia was 
going to help. 

“The passengers are asked to keep to their rooms,” 
he said. “There isn’t any need of % being frightened. 
There’s been no fire on our boat, but there has been 
an accident to the Titanic ” 

Mrs. Ogden thought that an accident to the Titanic 
was quite too ridiculous to think of and in that she 
shared the impression which, so she learned afterward, 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


89 


was current upon the Titanic after the latter had struck. 
Mrs. Ogden dressed hastib 7 and went out on deck. 

BOATS FILLED WITH SURVIVORS 

“I saw there on the bosom of the ocean,” she said, 
f *a boat full of women and children. I suppose there 
must have been sailors there too, but I did not see them. 
There were only one or two women in evening dress, but 
most of them were clad in fur coats over their kimonos 
or nightgowns. They had on their evening slippers and 
silk stockings. Some of them wore hats. 

“Far in the distance were two or three other black 
specks which we made out also to be boats. As day¬ 
light grew r we made out more and more boats, three on 
one side of our ship and five on the other. Still later 
we picked up more. 

“Here and there on the ocean’s surface among the 
field of ice were bits of wreckage from the broken 
Titanic, and there were in sight many bergs eighty and 
ninety feet high. The passengers of the Titanic were 
taken aboard the Carpathia boatload by boatload up 
sea ladders. 


MOST WOMEN HOISTED ABOARD 

“The women, most of them, were hoisted to the 
decks of the Carpathia in swings but a few were hardy 
enough to climb aboard by the sea ladders. The ocean 


90 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


all this time was calm as a lake and it was not a difficult 
task to take the excess passengers aboard. 

“Some of the women helped out in the rowing in 
the lifeboats themselves.” 

Mrs. Ogden said that she saw the hands of Mrs. 
Astor, Mrs. John B. * Thayer and Mrs. George D. 
Widener red from the oars. Most of the women were 
wet to the knees from the icy water that had slopped 
into the Titanic's lifeboats. 



—Indianapolis Star 
Lest We Forget 



CHAPTER X 


SORROW AND HONOR AND MEMORY 
EQUAL 

Heroism Was Uniform and Universal and No Dis* 
tinctions Need Be Drawn 

There are differences between the statements of 
those rescued from the perished Titanic . There are 
contradictions as well as differences. The fact, how¬ 
ever, but confirms the sincerity and the endeavor to be 
truthful of all who try to tell the story. Agreement 
on every detail would suggest collusion and impair faith 
in what was said. 

Readers who bear these facts in mind will get at the 
substantial truth of the various accounts and draw the 
correct conclusions from them. The one and great con¬ 
clusion to be drawn is that which proves the bravery 
and unselfishness of officers and crew and passengers, 
the fortitude of women, the consideration of all for the 
children, and the credit the entire story casts on the 
unselfishness of human beings in a sudden and con¬ 
certed exchange of worlds. 

If the tragedy is sorrow’s crown of sorrow, the 
tragedy is likewise a justification of the claim of the lost 

91 


92 


WRECK GF THE TITANIC 


to the honor as well as to the pity of the race and to 
the assurances they were as dear to the Heart of God 
as they will forever be to the chronicles and traditions 
of men. Every soul alone knows and can never fully 
tell its own grief. Every household alone realizes and 
can never fully tell its own loss. No riven heart can 
ever believe another’s heart suffers woe like unto its 
woe. That is universal because natural. It is also in 
process of time consoling. 

Equally true it is that there should be no compari¬ 
sons instituted between exemplars of heroism where 
heroism was uniform and universal. Any one of us well 
knew friends who perished together, in one another’s 
arms maybe. But others, too, know friends of theirs 
who met the same fate with the same courage. Com¬ 
parison, contrast or competition of credit under such 
circumstances were revolting and impossible. 

The men who have died for men have won the 
laurels of the race. The men who died for women 
are entitled to the love as well as to the laurels of the 
race. The men who died for little children are ever¬ 
more shrined in the heart of Him “Who took the little 
children in His arms and blessed them,” as He said, 
“For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” 

If there is any rose of distinction in the chaplet of 
memory, let it so to the husbands and wives who lit¬ 
erally loved, lived and died together, each refusing to 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


93 


survive the other. For those dead the portals of Eter¬ 
nity swung wide open, but in the souls of those who 
went through them together must have been special joy, 
and for them well could be special honor and shall be 

The equal and equally honored and equally mourned 
dead should have and will have equal remembrance 
among the living. For them let sudden death be held 
to have been the assured glory of those who did die or 
were ready to die that others might live. 

“For this cause shall a man lay down even his life,” 
said He who once laid down even His for His enemies. 
In this instance not a few surrendered their lives even 
for strangers. The Friend and Father of all the race 
has no rebuke for those made in His image who fol¬ 
lowed His example. God accepts them. Christ receives 
them. Humanity cannot forget them. The summons 
all must answer, and most of us alone, is answered with 
special pathos and power on the sea, in the night and 
in grouped comradeship, with the consciousness and 
comfort as time recedes and Heaven opens, that if for 
them who live for others earth is well, for them who 
die for others Eternity has an abundant entrance into 
love ineffable. 


94 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


THE LAST WORD FROM THE TITANIC 

“We rowed frantically away from the Titanic and 
were tied to four other boats. I arose and saw the ship 
sinking. The band was playing ‘Nearer, My God to 
Thee.’ ”— Mrs . W. J. Bouton, a survivor, whose hus¬ 
band was drowned . 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee! 

E’en though it be a cross 
That raiseth me; 

Still all my song shall be 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee! 

Though like the wanderer. 

The sun gone down, 

Darkness be over me, 

My rest a stone; 

Yet in my dreams I’d be 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

Nearer to Thee! 

There let the way appear 
Steps unto heaven; 

All that thou sendest me 
In mercy given; 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


95 


Angels to beckon me. 

Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee! 

Then with my waking thoughts. 
Bright with thy praise, 

Out of my stony griefs 
Bethel I’ll raise; 

So by my woes to be 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee! 

Or if on joyful wing 
Cleaving the sky, 

Sun, moon and stars forgot. 
Upward I fly; 

Still all my song shall be 
Nearer, my God, to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee. 



CHAPTER XI 


THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FATAL 
SPEED 

The Captain Was Undoubtedly Carrying Out 
Instructions of the Owners 

The investigation of a committee of the United 
States Senate brought out all the material facts bear¬ 
ing upon the disaster that sent the Titanic and 1,595 
persons to the bottom of the Atlantic. Mr. Bruce 
Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line, the 
first witness, deposed under oath that at the time of 
the collision the ship was not going at full speed. That 
is a matter of deduction from his testimony. “The 
ship’s full speed was 78 revolutions. We did not make 
more than 72.” The Titanic could steam between 22 
and 23 knots an hour, so it is evident that her speed was 
at the rate of about 21 knots, and therefore high in 
an ice drift where bergs could be seen by daylight and 
might be encountered suddenly after dark. 

It was a clear, starlight night, the sea was calm, 
and except for the presence of loose floes and masses 
of ice with submerged bases there was no reason why 
the Titanic should not have been making good time. 





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WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


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But the exception was very important. Obviously the 
great ship was proceeding at a high rate of speed under 
orders of the captain, who just as obviously was trying 
to carry out the instructions of his employers. If the 
Titanic was not as fast a ship as the Lusitania or the 
Mauretania she was expected to make a good record on 
her maiden trip, which could not be done unless she 
held to a prescribed route. It was certainly in the 
power of Mr. Ismay to have the Titanic's course changed 
to the south when dangerous ice was reported ahead. 
The warning had come by wireless from the Amerika 
the day before the disaster. But to take at once a 
more southerly course would have involved a loss in 
time of several hours at least on the maiden voyage of 
the great Titanic . 

After the tragic event it seems criminal that the 
course w r as not changed if the new ship was to be 
driven on at a speed of 21 knots. The alternative was 
to proceed slowly through the ice field, but at a rate to 
keep her under perfect control. A steamship of the 
size of the Titanic must maintain a speed proportion¬ 
ately greater than the speed at which a vessel of half 
her tonnage can be handled in an emergency. What, 
then, is the explanation of her forging through ice- 
strewn water almost at maximum velocity? Can there 
be any doubt that the risk was not understood? Swiftly 
to condemn is to lose sight of the fact that the experi- 


98 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ence of captains of transatlantic liners with fields of ice, 
particularly with bergs partly submerged, is negligible. 
To the commander of the Titanic, a veteran who had 
made the passage hundreds of times, the conditions that 
destroyed his ship presented no perils requiring him to 
slow down to headway speed or to safe manoeuvring 
speed. It was sufficient for him that the night was 
clear, that the ice was loose. He believed, as he had 
declared before he took charge of the ship, that she 
was unsinkable. A faith fatal in its consequences, but 
he knew nothing of the power of a great mass of float¬ 
ing ice to tear out the side of a 45,000-ton ship and 
smash in her watertight compartments. It is clear 
enough that the loss of the Titanic and the sacrifice of 
two-thirds of her passengers and crew was due more 
to ignorance and misplaced confidence than to crim¬ 
inal carelessness. 

After the event the world knows that a fearful risk 
was taken that ought to have been avoided. It is the 
old painful story of implicit faith in experience that 
proved valueless and in judgment that was fallible. A 
thousand and a half lives seem to have been wantonly 
sacrificed, but to place the responsibility without miti¬ 
gation is not as simple as it seems in the shadow of the 
awful disaster. The verdict will be pronounced un¬ 
flinchingly, but let the investigation be deliberate and 
the evidence complete .—New York Sun. 


CHAPTER XII 

OTHER CONTRIBUTING CAUSES OF THE 
DISASTER 

In Addition to Lack of Lifeboats, Crews Did Not 
Know How to Manage Those They Had—Also 
Fire Raged in Coal Bunkers From the Start— 
Inexperienced Crew 

There was some criticism among the survivors of the 
Titanic crew’s inability to handle the lifeboats. “The 
crew of the Titanic was a new one, of course,” declared 
Mrs. George N. Stone of Cincinnati, “and had never 
been through a lifeboat drill, or any training in the rudi¬ 
ments of launching, manning and equipping the boats. 
Scores of lives were thus ruthlessly wasted, a sacrifice to 
inefficiency. Had there been any sea running, instead 
of the glassy calm that prevailed, not a single passenger 
would have safely reached the surface of the water. The 
men did not know how to lower the boats; the boats were 
not provisioned; many of the sailors could not handle 
an oar with reasonable skill.” 

NO BOAT DRILLS HELD 

Albert Major, steward of the Titanic , admitted that 
there had been no boat drills and that the lifeboats were 
poorly handled. 


100 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“One thing comes to my mind above all else as I 
live over again the sinking of the Titanicf he said. 
“We of the crew realized at the start of the trouble that 
we were unorganized, and, although every man did his 
best, we were hindered in getting the best results because 
we could not pull together. 

“There had not been a single boat drill on the 
Titanic . The only time we were brought together was 
when we were mustered for roll call about 9 o’clock on 
the morning we sailed. From Wednesday noon until 
Sunday nearly five days passed, but there was no boat 
drill.” 

The White Star liner Titanic was on fire from the 
day she sailed from Southampton. Her officers and 
crew knew it, for they had fought the fire for days. 

This story, told for the first time on the day of land¬ 
ing by the survivors of the crew who were sent back to 
England on board the Red Star liner Lapland, was only 
one of the many thrilling tales of the first—and last— 
voyage of the Titanic. 

“The Titanic sailed from Southampton on Wednes¬ 
day, April 10, at noon,” said J. Dilley, fireman on the 
Titanic , who lives at 21 Milton road, Newington, 
London, North, and who sailed with 150 other members 
of the Titanic's crew on the Lapland . 

“I was assigned to the Titanic from the Oceanic , 
where I had served as a fireman. From the day we 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


101 


sailed the Titanic was on fire, and nry sole duty, together 
with eleven other men, had been to fight that fire. We 
had made no headway against it. 

Of course, sir, he went on, the passengers knew 
nothing of the fire. Do you think, sir, we’d have let 
them know about it? No, sir. 

The fire started in bunker No. 6. There were hun¬ 
dreds of tons of coal stored there. The coal on top of 
the bunker was wet, as all the coal should have been, but 
down at the bottom of the bunker the coal had been 
permitted to get dry. 

“The dry coal at the bottom of the pile took fire, sir, 
and smoldered for days. The wet coal on top kept the 
flames from coming through, but down in the bottom of 
the bunker, sir, the flames was a-raging. 

“Two men from each watch of stokers were told off, 
sir, to fight that fire. The stokers, you know, sir, work 
four hours at a time, so twelve of us was fighting flames 
from the day we put out of Southampton until we hit 
the iceberg. 

No, sir, we didn’t get that fire out, and among the 
stokers there was talk, sir, that we’d have to empty the 
big coal bunkers after we’d put our passengers off in 
New York and then call on the fireboats there to help 
us put out the fire. 

4 ‘But we didn’t need such help. It was right under 
bunker No. 6 that the iceberg tore the biggest hole in the 


102 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Titanic, and the flood of water that came through, sir, 
put out the fire that our tons and tons of water had not 
been able to get rid of. 

“The stokers were beginning to get alarmed over it, 
but the officers told us to keep our mouths shut—they 
didn’t want to alarm the passengers.” 

Another story told by members of the Titanic's crew, 
was of a fire which is said to have started in one of the 
coal bunkers of the vessel shortly after she left her dock 
at Southampton, and which was not extinguished until 
Saturday afternoon. The story, as told by a fireman, 
was as follows: 

“It had been necessary to take the coal out of sec¬ 
tions 2 and 3 on the starboard side, forward, and when 
the water came rushing in after the collision with the ice 
the bulkheads would not hold because they did not have 
the supporting weight of the coal. Somebody reported 
to Chief Engineer Bell that the forward bulkhead had 
given way and the engineer replied: ‘My God, we are 
lost.’ 

“The engineers stayed by the pumps and went down 
with the ship. The firemen and stokers were sent on 
deck five minutes before the Titanic sank, when it was 
seen that they would inevitably be lost if they stayed 
longer at their work of trying to keep the fires in the 
boilers and the pumps at work. The lights burned to the 
last because the dynamos were run by oil engines.” 




CHAPTER XIII 
MORE OF THE TRAGEDY 


Death Waited foe Everyone, Rich and Poor 
Alike, On the Ill-Fated Ship 

George D. Widener, the wealthy Philadelphian, and 
Arthur L. Ryerson of New York went to their deaths 
like men, is the statement by Mrs. Ryerson to her 
brother-in-law, E. S. Ryerson, after her rescue. She 
says that when the women were put into the lifeboats 
they saw Mr. Ryerson and Mr. Widener standing 
behind the rail of the Titanic , both waving their arms, 
throwing kisses and calling farewell to their wives and 
children. They believed there were boats enough for all. 
Mrs. Ryerson had her two daughters, Susan and Emily 
B., and a young son, John B., in the boat with her. 

AIR-TIGHT chambers proved death cells 

That fifty or more steerage passengers of the Titanic 
were immured in a steel prison from which escape was 
impossible with the closing of the air-tight compartment 
doors in the steerage deck forward of midships was the 
statement made by a member of the ship’s crew and who 
himself verified the fact that escape had been shut off 
for these unfortunates. 


103 


104 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


To have opened the doors which shut off these steer¬ 
age passengers from the decks and possible escape 
would have been to shorten the life of the ship, he 
declared, and hurry disaster on all of the hundreds 
crowded about the boat davits high above. 

NO CHANCE FOR LIVES 

“I know that fifty or more steerage passengers, 
whose quarters were on the same deck with the glory- 
hole used by the stewards of the second cabin, never got 
a chance for their lives,” the informant said. “I know, 
because I nearly got caught myself by the closing of the 
water-tight doors leading from the working alley, which 
opened from the forward deck through to all the fore¬ 
part of the ship. 

“At the first shock all of the stewards in my glory- 
hole, forty all told, tumbled from their bunks and went 
out through the working alley to see what the trouble 
was: I heard some one give an order, ‘Look out for the 
water-tight doors.’ A minute later I started to go back 
to the glory-hole to get a life belt, the order having been 
passed out to all members of the crew to equip them¬ 
selves with these belts. 

STEEL DOORS SLAMMED 

“I could not get back through the alley to the glory- 
hole because the water-tight doors had slammed tight 
across the passageway. There was no way around it. 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


105 


There was no way for those on the other side of it, in the 
forepeak of the ship, to get out to open air. 

“I know that none of the people from the steerage 
sleeping quarters beyond that water-tight door got out 
before it was shut, because they would have had to pass 
me in the alley, and none of them did. I spoke to one 
of the petty officers about the door being shut and all 
those people in there, and he said: ‘ Well, what can we 
do about it now? If those forward compartments hold, 
then the air in them will keep us up all the longer/ ” 

BELLBOYS AS WELL AS MILLIONAIRES 

Among the many hundred of heroic souls who went 
bravely and quietly to their end were fifty happy-go- 
lucky youngsters shipped as bellboys or messengers to 
serve the first cabin passengers. James Humphries, a 
quartermaster, who commanded lifeboat No. 11, told a 
little story that shows how these fifty lads met death. 

Humphries said the boys were called to their regu¬ 
lar posts in the main cabin entry and taken in charge 
by their captain, a steward. They were ordered to 
remain in the cabin and not get in the way. Through¬ 
out the first hour of confusion and terror these lads sat 
quietly their benches in various parts of the first 
cabin. 

Then, just toward the end, when the order was 
passed around that the ship was going down and every 




106 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

man was free to save himself if he kept away from the 
lifeboats in which the women were taken, the bellboys 
scattered to all parts of the ship. 

Humphries said he saw numbers of them smoking 
cigarettes and joking with the passengers. They 
seemed to think that their violation of the rule against 
smoking while on duty was a sufficient breach of dis¬ 
cipline. 

Not one of them attempted to enter a lifeboat. 

Not one of them was saved. 






CHAPTER XIV 


ODDITIES OF THE WRECK 

Fate Played Some Strange Freaks Along With 
the Horror—Money Less Valuable Than 
Oranges 

One of the cabin passengers of the Titanic, Maj. A. 
G. Peuchen of Toronto, left more than $300,000 in 
money, jewelry and securities in a box in his cabin when 
he left the ship. He went back to his cabin for the box, 
but decided to take instead three oranges. 

“The money seemed to be a mere mockery at that 
time,” said the major. “The only trinket I saved was 
a little pin which I remembered had always brought me 
luck. I picked up the pin and three oranges instead of 
the money and the documents.” 

Maj. Peuchen, who is president of the Standard 
Chemical Company of Canada and vice commodore of 
the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, was thrust into one of 
the boats by the captain and ordered to man an oar. 

DEMANDED A BATH 

& Wikeman, the Titanic's barber, was treated for 
bruises. He declared that he was blown into the water 

107 


108 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


by the second explosion on the Titanic , after her colli¬ 
sion with the iceberg. 

A passenger who was picked up in a drowning con¬ 
dition caused grim amusement on the Carpathia by 
demanding a bath as soon as the doctors were through 
with him. 

JUMPED FROM THE DECK 

Storekeeper Prentice, the last man off the Titanic 
to reach the Carpathia , swam about in the icy water for 
hours, but soon was restored. He said he had leaped 
from the Titanic's poop deck. 

Mrs. James Baxter and her daughter, Mrs. P. C. 
Douglas of Montreal, Canada, when rescued were wear- 
i ig the evening dresses that they had on at the Sunday 
if ght concert on the Titanic , having lost ail their other 
v earing apparel. 

A ROMANCE OF THE WRECK 

In the midst of death and horror, Cupid played a 
li tie game and won. 

One of the girl survivors of the Titanic, Miss 
Marion Wright of Somerset, England, was married in 
New York the day after landing, to Arthur Woolcott 
of Cottage Grove, Ore. She came alone from her home 
in England to meet her fiance and he had been in New 




WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


109 


York for nearly a week anxiously awaiting her arrival. 
The pair were schoolmates in England and became 
engaged before Mr. Woolcott left to become an Oregon 
fruit grower. 



Gettin’ the Lesson 


•—Indianapolis New$ 



HYMN FOR SURVIVORS OF THE TITANIC 
By Hall Caine 

To the tune of “God, Our Help in Ages Past.” 

Lord of the everlasting hills, 

God of the boundless sea, 

Help us through all the shocks of fate 
To keep our trust in Thee. 

When nature’s unrelenting arm 
Sweep us like withes away. 

Maker of man, be Thou our strength 
And our eternal stay. 

When blind, insensate, heartless force 
Puts out our passing breath, 

Make us to see Thy guiding light. 

In darkness and in death. 

Beneath the roll of soundless waves 
Our best and bravest lie; 

Give us to feel their spirits live 
Immortal in the sky. 

We are Thy children, frail and small, 

Formed of the lowly sod, 

Comfort our bruised and bleeding souls. 
Father and Lord and God. 


no 



CHAPTER XV 


THE TERROR OF THE SEAS 
By Fred S. Miller. 

There is one, and but one, danger to navigation 
against which the ingenuity of navigators is absolutely 
powerless, and this danger is formed by the vast ice¬ 
bergs—floating ice-prairies, some of them—which every 
month in the year, but more particularly in the winter 
months, are sent in shoals from the Arctic and the Ant¬ 
arctic regions to float down the currents of the ocean 
until they are finally melted and mingled with warm 
waters. A brief account of the origin of these marine 
monsters, their action and the manifold dangers they 
present to sailors, will be of interest. 

Greenland is the breeder of the iceberg for the 
northern seas. Greenland is a mysterious continent on 
which no vegetable life can endure. Its exact limits 
have never yet been traced, but is known to be compara¬ 
tively flat, though covered to immense depths by snow 
and ice. This snow and ice forms constantly throughout 
the year, and has so formed since prehistoric times. It 
heaps up so that the surface of Greenland may be 
roughly compared to a vast hill. The enormous weight 
in 



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Washington Monument, Washington, 655 feet high 5. Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany, 516 feet 
Metropolitan Tower, New York, 700 feet high high 

New Woolworth Building, New York, 750 feet high 6. Grand Pyramid, Gizeh, Africa, 451 feet high 
White Star Line’s Triple Screw Steamers “Olym- 7. St. Peter’s Church, Rome, Italy, 448 feet high 
pic” and “Titanic,” 882% feet long 





























LAUNCHING THE S.S. TITANIC 

















WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


113 


of this constantly forming ice causes movements of the 
masses from the center to the sea, and thus the glaciers 
are formed—vast processions of granite-hard ice which 
‘‘flow” very slowly but irresistibly and for vast extents 
down to the water. 

The size ^of these great moving plains is indeed 
almost unbelievable. The Humboldt glacier is sixty 
miles broad, its walls rise three hundred feet from the 
place where it meets the sea, and as to its depth inland 
it has been plumbed for half a mile. Every year it sends 
out over the ocean a mass whose area is greater than that 
of the State of New Jersey. 

Another of the great Greenland glaciers, called the 
Jacobshaven glacier, is two thousand feet broad and one 
thousand feet high, and its output to the sea is estimated 
as being over 400,000,000,000 cubic feet of ice yearly. 

Thousands of miles of this matter are constantly 
being emptied into the ocean, the rate of progress being 
about forty-two feet a day. Immense masses of solid 
ice creep along the shore, at the water’s edge presenting 
a vertical face of steel-blue ice hard as flint, against 
which dash the angry waves of the Arctic. Out this ice 
pushes, day after day, until finally its own weight or the 
action of the water causes vast sections to break off with 
a roar like that of a thousand thunder claps and with a 
disturbance in the ocean that could only be compared to 
the commotion caused by the birth of a new island. Thus 


114 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


born, the berg floats gently down the currents for the 
Grand Banks of Labrador, where the fogs and mists 
that continually wreathe that region, shut the icy menace 
from view of the anxious mariner frequently until it is 
too late for him to turn his vessel to avoid them. In 
such weather it is of no help for the lookout on the tops 
that the iceberg frequently towers hundreds of feet into 
the air. It cannot be seen for the dense blanket of fog 
that shuts out sight and shuts out sound, so that even 
the wash of the waves dashing against the base of the 
approaching destroyer cannot be heard. Only by the 
cold radiated from it may its presence be guessed, but 
if the wind is blowing from the vessel to the berg the 
temperature cannot be felt lowering until the boat is so 
near that it is impossible to turn it before the crash 
comes. 

Again, many of these great masses cannot be seen 
above the surface of the sea as they only extend com¬ 
paratively a few feet into the air. Nevertheless eight- 
ninths of the berg is always under -water, so that, espe¬ 
cially at night, a vast plateau of ice may be gliding 
towards a steamer and giving no indication of its 
presence. 

The steamer Saale, coming over the same course as 
that taken by the Titanic, was in 1890 subjected to 
almost the same experience although she escaped as by 
a miracle. Rushing along in the midnight gloom its 


115 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

path was suddenly barred by a black rampart of steely 
ice, 100 feet high. The lookout gave timely warning, 
the engines were reversed and the helm put hard aport, 
so that the steamer barely crunched along over the sub¬ 
merged foot of the berg, bumping heavily a few times 
and being shot off into deep water sidewise so that the 
coal and cargo were shifted. This listed the vessel 
heavily, in which plight she proceeded slowly to port, 
her starboard rail barely clearing the water. 

The Normania, in 1900, had a similar experience. It 
turned just in time to avoid a direct impact with an 
immense berg, but it ran alongside of the floating moun¬ 
tain, shearing its sides and showering itself with ice 
scraped off, which loaded the decks. 

But these are merely lucky escapes. By far the 
greater number of vessels, once they touch the fright¬ 
ful mass of beetling crag and jagged base, are lost on 
the moment of impact, the passengers being lucky if 
they have the time and the boats to escape with. The 
record of the sea is heavy with the account of gallant 
ships that perished, some with all on board. Many is 
the number that went down and were never heard from 
nor a vestige of them seen, but which were supposed to 
have been overborne by icebergs. Until very recent 
years the wireless telegraph was unheard of and ships 
suddenly overtaken could not communicate their plight 
but must vanish without leaving a record that they had 


116 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ever been. In this way went the Ismalia , the Columbo, 
the HomerZanzibar, Surbiton and Bernicia, and to 
this day no light has been thrown on the mystery of their 
loss. Of course there are many more similar cases, any 
year of the last twenty being prolific with instances of 
these mysteriously disappearing ships. 

The only vessel that can hope to escape destruction 
by contact with an iceberg is the especially strengthened 
ship built for Arctic exploration. Ships like the Fram 
of Amundson, or Peary’s ship, are proof against even 
a head-on collision as they are very strong and very 
light. But an ocean liner is especially vulnerable. 
Going at the rapid speed that is nearly always main¬ 
tained on these palatial ships, and with their enormous 
weight and displacement and their comparatively weak 
structure, the momentum which they acquire shatters 
them like glass when it is brought to an instant stop 
against a sluggish-moving mass say a mile long, two 
hundred feet above the water, 1,600 feet below the water, 
of a weight incalculably great and of a hardness like 
granite. 

Much time has been spent and many efforts have 
been made to devise some instrument or discover some 
means whereby the presence of an approaching iceberg 
might be detected, but so far little progress has been 
made toward perfecting anything that at all answers 
the requirements. The towering berg can of course be 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


117 


seen for miles unless hidden by the fog, but what of the 
immense masses that lie scarcely visible in the water yet 
wholly destructive of whatever ship shall hurl itself 
upon that jagged floating reef of ice-coral? Ships that 
run on top of such bergs break literally in two, as their 
keels are not made to sustain a strain of balancing or 
“teetering” as the ship does when it runs upon the 
uneven surface of the berg. 

But if icebergs are terrible they are beyond doubt 
among the most beautiful and superb manifestations of 
nature. Think of a mass of glittering minarets and 
towers, of domes, arches, collonades, spires and special 
forms and features of its own uniquely beautiful—think 
of such a mass irradiant with a thousand variations of the 
rainbow hues and flashing in the sunlight of a northern 
summer day; think of a landscapeful of this delirious 
beauty, a bulk as large as the State of Rhode Island, 
moving majestically to the open ocean, breaking into 
mysterious peals of thunder as it dominates the sea! 
Perhaps it will receive and override some goodly vessel 
in its unruffled progress from the cold inconceivable 
which brought it forth. Perhaps the luckless voyagers 
wall view its dreadful shape with an awe that will impel 
them rather to perish in the deep than to endevor to seek 
refuge on the sheer and frigid walls that have o’erborne 
their ship. But presently the enormous edifice of ice 
itself shall sink and perish in the sea, merged with the 


118 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


enervating waters of the Gulf Stream—o’erborne as all 
things are and set to uses new by that emanation called 
by the learned “the opposition of forces” and by the wise 
called God, which keeps His ministering universe in 
equipoise and holds its balance true. 



—Indianapolis Star 
The Toll of the Sea 




CHAPTER XVI 

HEROES AT THE POST OF DUTY! 


Duty as Stern a Mistress as Despair Gave Many 
Opportunities for the Display oe Bravery— 
Held Prayer Service as Ship Sank 

The Rev. Thomas R. Byles, whose requiem mass 
was sung on Saturday at the hour he was to have 
officiated at his brother’s marriage, was last seen leading 
a group in prayer on the second cabin deck of the 
Titanic when that ship sank. On the morning of the 
day the boat struck the iceberg Father Byles had 
preached to the passengers in the steerage and most of 
them knew him by sight. 

When the Titanic struck the priest was on the upper 
deck walking back and forth reading his office, the daily 
prayers which form part of the duties of every Roman 
Catholic priest. After the real danger was apparent, 
survivors say Father Byles went among the passengers, 
hearing confessions of some and giving absolution. At 
the last he was the center of a group on the deck where 
the steerage passengers had been crowded and was lead¬ 
ing in the recitation of the rosary. 

119 



120 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


This information was given by Miss Agnes McCoy, 
who was taken, as soon as she landed from the Car - 
pathia, to St. Vincent’s Hospital. She and her sister, 
Alice, were with their brother in the steerage. The two 
girls were put into a lifeboat and saw their brother 
swimming in the icy water. They called to him to get 
into their boat. He tried to grasp the side of the boat, 
but one of the sailors beat him back with an oar. In a 
minute one of the girls had reached the sailor and held 
his arms while the other sister pulled her brother aboard. 

“I saw Father Byles when he spoke to us in the 
steerage,” said Agnes McCoy, “and there was another 
priest with him there. He was a German and spoke in 
that language. I did not see Father Byles again until 
we were told to come up and get into the boat. He was 
reading out of a leather bound book”—his priest’s book 
of hours—“and did not pay any attention. He thought 
as the rest of us did that there wasn’t really any danger. 
Then I saw him put the book in his pocket and hurry 
around to help women into the boats. We were among 
the first to get away and I didn’t see him any more. 

“But there was a fellow on the Carpatliia who told 
me about Father Byles. He was an English lad who 
was coming over to this country with his parents and 
several brothers and sisters. They were all lost. He 
was on the deck with the steerage passengers until the 
boat went down. He was holding to a piece of iron, he 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


121 


told me, and had his hands badly cut. One of the 
explosions threw him out of the water and he was picked 
up later. 

He said that Father Byles and another priest stayed 
with the people after the last boat had gone and that a 
big crowd, a hundred maybe, knelt about him. They 
were Catholics, Protestants and Jewish people who were 
kneeling there, this fellow told me. Father Byles told 
them to prepare to meet God and he said the rosary. 
The others answered him. Father Byles and the other 
priest, he told me, were still standing there praying 
when the water came over the deck. 

“X did not see Father Byles in the water. But that 
is no wonder, for there were hundreds of bodies floating 
there after the ship went down. The night was so clear 
that we could see plainly and make out faces of those 
near us. The lights of the boat were bright almost to 
the last. They went out after the explosion. Then we 
could hear the people in the water crying for help and 
moaning for a long time after the boat went down,” 

STUCK TO THEIR POST 

Postmaster General Hitchcock recommended that a 
provision be inserted in the pending Postofflce Appro¬ 
priation bill authorizing the payment of $2,000, the 
maximum amount prescribed by law for payment to the 
representatives of railway postal clerks killed while on 


122 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


duty, to the families of each of the three American sea 
post clerks who lost their lives on the Titanic . 

“The bravery exhibited by these men,” Mr. Hitch¬ 
cock said, “in their efforts to safeguard under such try¬ 
ing conditions the valuable mail intrusted to them should 
be a source of pride to the entire postal service, and 
deserves some marked expression of appreciation from 
the government.” 

When last seen by those who survived the disaster 
these three clerks, John S. Marsh, William L. Gwynn 
and Oscar S. Woody, were on duty and engaged with 
the two British clerks, lago Smith and E. D. William¬ 
son, in transferring the 200 bags of registered mail con¬ 
taining 400,000 letters from the ship’s postoffice to the 
upper deck. An officer of the Titanic stated that when 
he last saw these men they were working in two feet of 
water. 

BAND KNEE DEEP IN WATER 

Mrs. John Murray Brown, of Acton, Mass., who 
with her sisters, Mrs. Robert C. Cornell and Mrs. E. D. 
Appleton, was saved, was in the last lifeboat to get 
safely away from the Titanic . 

“The band played, marching from deck to deck, and 
as the ship went under I could still hear the music,” 
Mrs. Brown said. “The musicians were up to their 
knees in the water when I last saw them. My sisters 
and I were in different boats. We offered assistance to 





123 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

Captain Smith of the Titanic when the water covered 
the ship, but he refused to get into the boat.” 

The names of six Englishmen, a German and a 
Frenchman go down upon the roll of honor in the 
Titanic tragedy: 

Krins. Clark. 

Hume. Brailey. 

Taylor. Breicoux. 

W oodward. Hartley. 

In the list of second cabin passengers on the Titanic , 
the names of the eight are linked under the title of 
bandsmen.” When the last faint hope was gone, the 
eight musicians lined up on deck. Then solemnly and 
quietly the leader waved his baton, hands flew to instru¬ 
ments and over the ice laden water floated the strains 
of one of the most sadly beautiful hymns ever written. 
It was “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” 

To their playing more than fifteen hundred souls 
passed from life. 

heroism at home 

Plucky Mary Downey at her switchboard played a 
hero’s part as well as any of the rest of those of whom 
the Titanic disaster made heroes. During the days of 
suspense following the first news of the accident to the 
Titanic •, while there were hundreds of people at the 


124 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


White Star offices and while even more were calling up 
either by local or long distance ’phone, one young 
woman sat at the White Star switchboard and bore the 
worst of everything. She was there to answer the first 
inquiries of relatives and friends of the Titanic's pas¬ 
sengers, to give them what hope she honestly could, to 
tell of the latest developments when there were any, to 
meet the quick demands of the officials of the line, and 
lastly to give immediate service to the throng of report¬ 
ers that camped about the offices. All this, and more, 
too, when she had an unbelievably small amount of sleep. 

The girl’s name is Mary Downey. By the time the 
Carpathia had brought to port the remnants of the 
Titanic's crew and passengers Miss Downey was as 
much of a hero among the White Star people as any 
one could be. A good many who were in a position to 
know have had much to say about her sticking to the 
job day and night. She was about the most composed 
person in the offices during those troubled times. Even 
Mr. Franklin, the general manager, took time once to 
remark to several reporters that Miss Downey “was a 
wonder.” 

The news of the disaster reached I\ T ew York early 
on Monday morning, Miss Downey reached her place 
at 6 o’clock. She was there almost continuously until 
8 o’clock on Tuesday morning. Part of the time she 
had an assistant. That afternoon after a few hours 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


125 


rest, but without having gone to her home, she returned 
and again took up the answering of the endless 
inquiries. The greater proportion of them she referred 
to clerks, but every one had to be looked into first by 
her. And when the clerks were all occupied she herself 
met the brunt of whatever words of sadness or criticism 
came over the wire. 

Miss Downey had no idea how many ’phone calls 
she answered or made, but she knows that there are 
eleven trunk lines coming into the White Star offices, 
and that it was only during the hours of the night that 
these were not all in use. 

The newspaper men who stayed around day and 
night appreciated as much, if not more, than any one 
else the service which Miss Downey rendered. For 
instance, when Mr. Franklin announced that the 
Titanic had sunk there were nearly a dozen reporters 
who rushed to office ’phones. Within a minute each had 
his own office on the wire and was flashing the news. 




—Toledo News-Bee 

(t Nearer, My God, to Thee m 



















CHAPTER XVII 


WILLIAM THOMAS STEAD, SCHOLAR. 
DREAMER AND HUMANITARIAN; 

THE GREATEST AND MOST NO¬ 
TABLE MAN ON BOARD THE 
TITANIC WHEN SHE SANK 

Born in Poverty, He Rose by His Natural Genius 
for Accomplishment to Be a World Power; 
Always Original, Always Independent, True 
to His Ideals, First a Worker and Always a 
Believer in Good Books 

“And you shall be kicked to death in the streets of 
London l 5 ’ 

So said the clairvoyant. So prophesied the seer into 
the future, the gazer into the crystal bowl—but the 
crystal and the future were wrong. 

W. T. Stead, world figure, human question mark, 
the man of the “automatic hand,” who rose and rose and 
rose into the world from a beginning of nothing; a 
believer in the oecult in the voices of the spheres, was not 
kicked to death in the streets. London did not see him 
die, as the clairvoyant had said. For it was in the whirl¬ 
ing suction which followed the burial of the Titanic, in 
127 


128 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


the rush and swirl and horror of fear dumbed death at 
sea that W. T. Stead went into that land from which in 
life he believed he drew messages. 

And a figure of wonderful, almost grotesque interest 
went to death that night in the berg-ripped wreck of the 
steamer Titanic . 

There was only one thing that could stop him in 
his course. That one thing was death. Prison could not 
stop his career, the anger of royalty could not check 
him, the deafening roar of a nation’s displeasure caused 
him only to smile grimly and still keep on at what he had 
chosen to do. 

He was born into the home of a Congregational 
minister on July 5, 1849, at Embleton, Northumber¬ 
land, England. The father was a poor man. He had a 
large family. The boy’s lot was a hard one. His child 
life was prosaic—and yet in everything, to him, there 
was a bit of a finer appeal, a wonderful yearning to find 
out the “why” of things, to know the reason for the 
being of this world, to remedy that which seemed wrong. 

At 14 entered poverty, stalking, ghastly poverty. A 
position was open as errand boy in a merchant’s office. 
The salary was 4 shillings a week. All except 3 pence, 
or 6 cents a week, went toward the support of the 
family. The rest he could spend as he wished—6 cents! 

Instead William T. Stead hoarded it, with a pur¬ 
pose, a goal that comes only from ambition. There were 

























INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE 

























WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


129 


books to be bought; he must learn. He must study to 
satisfy the cravings of his mind. And so penny by 
penny the money was saved, to be disbursed now and 
then for some cheap edition of a book that was desired, 
a book that would be poured over and caressed and 
studied and absorbed in the hours of the night. 

Then at 17 came the great good fortune. The Boy’s 
Own Magazine was offering prizes for essays. Stead 
wrote one on Oliver Cromwell and a guinea came in 
payment. But the prize was not in money. It was in 
books, and perhaps that pleased the boy more than any¬ 
thing else could. Among the volumes that were selected 
by him was the poems of James Bussell Lowell—and 
that volume was the making of William T. Stead’s 
journalistic career. 

In Bussia, in Ireland, in Borne, in prison it was 
always his prized possession. He carried it with him 
always, thumbed almost to pieces, underscored and 
marked in the margin. 

In those “later years” the question of the unem¬ 
ployed came to Stead. It appealed to him. He pursued 
every account of work for the relief of the “out of 
works.” He worked for the betterment of men who 
suffered through unemployment. He was made assist¬ 
ant editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, then virtual editor. 

And it was then that William T. Stead began to 
wake up England. 


ISO WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

London was rotten with a leprosy of white slavery, 
Nobles, members of parliament, dukes, lords, all were in 
a great traffic in young girls that was carrying them 
down and down into a whirlpool from which there was 
no means of escape, London knew of the adder in its 
breast, but London tried not to see. ' London was aware 
that girls were being sold and bartered. But London 
did not seek further knowledge. 

illiam T. Stead saw and knew. He looked farther 
into the future, and conceived what it would mean to 
bring all this to the surface, to expose it, and force it so 
visibly upon the people that they would demand action. 
The whole great reform might recoil upon the reformer 
and drown him in its tide of frenzied awakening. 

The slothful morals might resist the efforts of the 
naan who sought to arouse them and crush him. But 
Stead, grim faced, determined, decided to make the try. 
His name, his reputation, his freedom was on one side, 
against the torture of souls on the other. He might lose 
what he possessed in the effort to free the other, but 
then- 

He took the dice box of fate into his hands and 
shook forth the cubes. They tumbled upon the green 
cloth of fortune, they wavered, then turned against him, 
then settled. He won. 

And it was thus that they turned to the winning 
angle: Stead had found indisputable evidence of what 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


131 


he wished to prove. He knew that power was against 
him, that money was against him, and that corruption 
Was against him. He knew that the one element that 
could save him w T as the angry indignation of the popu¬ 
lace. He set out to win that. 

Bit by bit he gathered his testimony, name after 
name was secured, incident after incident was placed in 
sequence, and then, one morning in 1885, the blow that 
changed England’s morals, or at least a part of them, 
fell. London awoke to stare, to gasp. Stead had called 
his exposure “The Maiden Tribute of Babylon,” and 
there was truth to back every statement. 

One exposure followed another, every fact was there, 
every bit of testimony stood forth in a nakedness of 
truth that was horrifying in its plainness. 

Stead was arrested. He was thrown into prison on 
the charge that he had committed an infraction of the 
laws. But he only smiled. He knew that he had won, 
that parliament would be forced to pass a law that would 
wipe out the white slavery. And parliament did. 

Twenty years aftqr visitors who went to the office 
of William T. Stead found him wearing a prison garb, 
numbered as it had been in the days when he suffered for 
the cause that he knew to be right. They were sur¬ 
prised. William T. Stead informed them that it was 
merely his anniversary, his means of celebrating a 
victoiy of the past. 


132 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

It was in 1893 and 1894 that William T. Stead made 
himself best known to Chicagoans. For it was then that 
he came here, and, being impressed with Chicago and 
its inner workings, began the writing of a book that 
made him more famous than ever ail over the world. 
That book was called “If Christ Came to Chicago.” 
When it was published it swept the country. 

Wm. T. Stead was, beyond doubt, the personal 
friend of more living and dead monarclis than any 
private citizen on earth. He interviewed more celebrities 
than any one writer in history. 



















CHAPTER XVIII 


MANY MEMORIALS FOR TITANIC 
TRAGEDY 

Churches All Over Country Unite in Holding 
Services Devoted to the Disaster—New York 
Mass Meeting 

Expressions of tender, heartfelt sympathy for those 
who were in great grief; sorrow for those who dieu; 
glowing words of tribute for the heroism which had 
thrilled the world and then strong words urging legisla 
tion and regulation to prevent a recurrence of the 
Titanic catastrophe marked the memorial meeting at 
the Broadway Theater Sunday afternoon, April 21, 
1912. Solemn as the occasion was, the great audience 
which : ammed the auditorium from orchestra to top¬ 
most balcony could not forbear testifying its approval 
of that which was said at times or in joining in hearty 
approval of the resolutions which crystallized the sen¬ 
timent. 

The meeting was presided over by Frederick Town¬ 
send Martin and the principal speaker was William 
Jennings Bryan. 

Mr. Martin made a brief introductory address. The 
133 


134 




WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

greater the sorrow the less the tongue could say, he 
declared; there are some sorrows too great to dwell 
upon. We can only mourn for those.who perished; we 
can only sympathize with those that are suffering today. 
“We have rejoiced,” he said, “over the great strides of 
business and commerce. We have believed in it, aided it 
until this commerce has grown too greed}- and it has 
taken advantage of our confidence. It has preferred 
to spend its millions in extravagances and pennies for 
safety; we now reap the result of that policy.” 

hli. Mai tin said that sorrow is a great educator 
“We sometimes see further through a tear than through 
a telescope. It might be that out of this will come 
great good to the future. He called the conduct of 
those in the wreck heroic, showing a heroism “that only 
the angels can surpass, far greater than that shown on 
the greatest battlefield in the world’s history.” At the 
conclusion of his speech he introduced Mr. Bryan. 

The epigram about seeing further through the tear 
than through the telescope had appealed to Mr. Bryan 
and he used it as a text at the outset. “May we see 
through these tears now,” he said. 

Our coming here today is an evidence that some¬ 
times all of us can meet together, and we do meet 
together when drawn by a common purpose. There 
is a difference in education between us, much more than 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


135 


there should be, I fear; there is a difference in wealth, 
much more than there should be; there is a difference of 
church, much more than there should be, but we are all 
one when our hearts are touched, when we meet together 
upon the foundation of the heart.” 

Many more people had died in a given period than 
the Titanic catastrophe had called for, “it is not because 
so many died in a shorter period that we come here, but 
because of the suddenness of the death, the awfulness of 
it.” Mr. Bryan used then the figure of a river and its 
tributaries. The storm of a single tributary had no 
effect on its volume; it is only when there is a general 
storm, when the water pours in from everywhere that the 
mighty stream rises, sweeps over its banks. “So these 
people dying in a single moment have broken down all 
man made boundaries—we rush forth oversweeping 
everything that would prevent us. 

“An occasion of this kind teaches its lessons,” Mr. 
Bryan continued. “A great emergency is like a stage 
upon which the people play a part as before an audience. 
In the street you cannot tell the hero from the villain, 
but when you come upon the stage you see them all; they 
show us the little and the great, the rich and the poor, 
the wise and the simple as they really are; and this catas¬ 
trophe has given us a chance to see how many heroes 
there are who only need a call forward to vindicate their 
right to be admired. 


136 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“I am proud of what we have learned of these men 
and these women, proud to know cf their self-control 
that has given them the power to face death undismayed, 
aye, to stand back and say: ‘Before me.’ 

“It is very easy to be polite when there is no danger 
in waiting; it is harder when delay, even for a moment, 
may mean death. I am proud of the records that have 
been made and glad that these illustrious examples come 
from every class. 

“Some of the names are known. But it is not only 
they that need to be remembered at such a time as this. 
A gentleman was telling me yesterday a story he had 
heard from one of the survivors in that busy hour when 
all were seeking a means of escape. One of the passen¬ 
gers, a woman, was putting on a life preserver, and said 
to the steward: £ Where is yours?’ The answer was: ‘X 
am afraid there are not enough to go round.’ 

“He was doing what he could to save the others, and 
I anft sure that none has read the story without being 
touched by it, of those wives who would not leave their 
husbands, who preferred to share the dangers of remain¬ 
ing with them to seizing the opportunity to escape. X 
knew one of these men in Congress. I was a colleague 
of Mr. Straus twenty years ago, and it is pleasant to 
know thax he was a hero and not afraid; and it is sweet 
to know that the wife who had been his companion for 
so many years was true to the history of that earlier 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


137 


Ruth and preferred not to leave him—‘Entreat me not 
to leave thee.’ These examples of manliness and woman¬ 
liness are the heritage of our people. They make us 
proud of those whom we knew, who were a part of us. 

“Nothing that we can say can bring back the dead,” 
said Mr. Bryan a little further on. “And little that we 
can say can soothe those who are under the shadow of a 
great personal loss. 

“Those occasions are for the future "more than for 
now, for others more than for ourselves.” Mr. Bryan 
told then of a conversation with a lawyer in a Western 
city years ago, who had said: “Without the shedding of 
blood there can be no remission of sins.” 

“He said,” the speaker continued, “ ‘You cannot cor¬ 
rect a great wrong until somebody is killed; you may 
talk about dangers, but they will not listen.’ Not until 
the tragedy of death shocks us will we pay attention. 
Often we do not know what needs to be done or provided 
until emergency throws its light upon the situation. 
He told of his own experience in the West Indies last 
year when the ship upon which he was traveling ran 
upon a coral reef. The experience was not dangerous; 
there was no peril. “But I learned then for the first 
time,” he continued, “that they had but one wireless 
operator upon ships of that size and that by agreement 
the operators slept from 1:30 till 6 o’clock, four hours 


138 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


in the night when a sinking ship could not call another 
ship even if but a few miles away. 

“The moment we found out the situation we were 
anxious that a law should be passed to require not less 
than two operators on a ship that there might be no 
delay in the securing of succor. We were not in danger 
and we could wait ten hours, but in three hours the 
Titanic went down We learned then we needed more 
operators and bills are now before Congress to remedy 
this, and I have no doubt that this great disaster, this 
greater, this gigantic, this Titanic disaster will result in 
legislation that will be beneficial to those who come 
after. 

“I venture the prediction that the wireless system 
will be made more immediately effective and efficient 
over a wider area and that the chance of danger will be 
diminished. I venture the assertion that as the result of 
the investigation now going on better preparations will 
be made with the lifeboats for the safety of passengers. 
I venture the assertion that less attention will be paid to 
comforts and luxuries that can be dispensed with and 
more thought given to the lives of those entrusted to the 
care of those shipbuilders and shipowners. I venture 
to assert also that the mania for speed will receive a 
cheek and that people will not be so anxious to get across 
the ocean in the shortest time as they will be io get 
across.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


139 


Mr. Bryan in conclusion referred to an old Greek 
game where the prize was to him that carried a lighted 
candle to a goal. “And so these shipowners must learn 
that the race is not to the swift, but to those who can 
carry the light of life all the way over and not extin¬ 
guish it on the way. 

“I am glad to be one of this vast multitude to thus 
testify by presence and word to the fact that we are all 
one in heart and feeling. I link my heart with yours 
in an expression of profound sorrow and in expression 
of deepest sympathy, and I link my hope to yours that 
this great, unspeakable disaster will bear a fruitage of 
good in larger safety to those who go down to the sea 
in ships.” 

Professor Felix Adler in his address to the Ethical 
Culture Society said in part: 

“Heedlessness and culpable neglect brought on the 
Titanic disaster. The public in general must share the 
blame. It is pitiful to think of those golf links and 
swimming pools on the steamship which is now 2,000 
fathoms deep. Though human weakness brought on 
the disaster sublime qualities were illustrated after its 
occurrence. The rule of the sea is based on moral 
equality of women and men. The statement made by 
some that women should have declined the preference 
well illustrates the rule. Inferior strength and less 


140 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

power of endurance is offset by a better chance for 
safety. 

“There were places in the lifeboats for the physically 
weaker of the women and life belts for the physically 
stronger men. It has also been said that more valuable 
lives should have had preference, but those for whom 
this claim was made were the first to disdain it and they 
consorted with the undistinguished people in the steer¬ 
age in the fine democracy of death. 

“The most admirable feature was the calmness of 
those left behind.” 

“If the builders of the Titanic had had a real faith 
in the almightiness of God,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles 
A. Eaton in the memorial service at the Madison Avenue 
Baptist Church, “they would not have believed that they 
could build something to master His seas. It was 
science they called upon, science, which since the days 
of Martin Luther has grown to be the mentor of the 
world. It gave them swimming pools, elevators, gor¬ 
geous suites and promenades, every comfort that a 
depraved anl luxurious nation loves. When that proud 
ship sailed it had tortured the brains of the race in pro¬ 
duction and incarnated all of complex modern science. 
But science, which has brought the world between us 
and God, can never produce anything that will not 


141 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

crumple at the touch of God. That unconquerable boat 
went down. 

“That one event has done more to dispel the 
wretched selfishness and sleepiness of our age than any¬ 
thing within my lifetime. With its best engines, its 
best staterooms,' music, provender, diversions, its best 
people, it went down at a touch from God. We had 
forgotten the brooding deep and all that lies behind. 
We had not taken lifeboats. 

“The managing director in his palatial saloon, the 
crew who did not drill, the man whose duty it was to 
bring up a bucketful of sea water for his thermometer 
and who filled it at the nearer faucet instead, all of them 
secure in their unsinkable ship—fools.” 

Twenty-two survivors from the Titanic , possibly 
more, attended the memorial service at the Cathedral 
of St. John the Divine Sunday morning after the 
disaster. Some of these survivors remained after the 
service to speak to the bishop and other clergy to thank 
them as they had in the service, they said, thanked God 
for their preservation. 

At the bases of the chancel arch were great anchors 
of purple violets and upon the arches themselves were 
the British and American colors. Upon the fronts of 
the choir stalls were palm leaves and all doorways were 
draped in black and purple. The psalm from the burial 


142 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


service was sung while the people knelt, and the choir 
came in and at the close of the long and solemn service 
went out again in silence. The anthem was Sullivan's 
“Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley 
of death," and the prayers were from the same prayer 
book office for the dead. 

The Bishop of New York, the president of the house 
of deputies of the General Convention, the Archdeacon 
of New York, ex-President Smith of Trinity College 
and Canons Yoorhees, Clover and Watson, with the 
cathedral dean, were among those who took part. So 
great was the number of people that they were seated 
in the choir stalls. Even then many stood. Bishop 
Greer’s sermon was short, and near its close he bade 
the people pray and read a prayer for those in afflic¬ 
tion, which brought the solemn occasion to its climax. 

Maj. Archibald W. Butt, aid to the President, was 
educated at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., 
and about twenty of his classmates, residents of New 
York and vicinity, attended a memorial service at St. 
Mark’s Church, Second avenue and Tenth street. The 
Holy Communion service, a part of the memorial one, 
was especially for persons who knew the Major. 
Seventy-four came forward to receive it. 

The rector of St. Mark’s, the Rev. W. N. Guthrie, 
was a classmate of Major Butt and preached the sermon. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


148 


His topic was “How Shall We View God in the Light 
of Such a Disaster ?” After the service a committee 
was named to draw up resolutions of sympathy and 
forward them to the Major’s family, which resides in 
Washington. Classmates who are members of the com¬ 
mittee are Dr. John P. H. Hutehin, Beverly Wrenn, 
T. Channing Moore, Robert B. Elliott and William M. 
Fuckette. 

jews mottrn 

Services in the Jewish temples of New York were 
occasions of mourning for ^ihe dead in the Titanic dis¬ 
aster. At several of the synagogues the catastrophe 
was the subject of the sermon. 

At Temple Beth-El, Fifth avenue and Seventy-sixth 
street, of which Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus, who died 
loyally together, were members, all the representatives 
of the Straus famliy now in the city were present. They 
were ex-Ambassador Oscar Straps, brother of the dead 
philanthropist; Percy Straus, his son; Mrs. Percy 
Straus and her sisters, Mrs. Percy Straus’ mother, Mrs. 
Abraham Abraham, widow of the late Mr. Straus’ 
business partner; Mrs. Lazarus Kohns, his sister; Lee 
Kohns, his nephew, and Mrs. Edmund E. Wise, his 
niece. 

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Schulman, who during his 
fourteen years incumbency as rabbi of the temple had 


144 


WRECK GF THE TITANIC 


been closely associated with Mr. Straus, could scarcely 
control his emotions as he spoke. He said in part: 

“I knew Xsidor Straus for fourteen years. He was 
a man with a great intellect, a sensitive conscience, a 
great heart, a loyal son of his people, and a loyal 
American—a great man. 

“God’s ways are not our ways. Therefore we should 
not attempt to define His motive in this tragic end of a 
great person. God sometimes, in His infinite wisdom, 
selects a man to designate that his life may be remem¬ 
bered by all mankind. At the conclusion of the Civil 
War it seemed to every one that the life of Abraham 
Lincoln was complete. His work, a great work, had 
been accomplished. Yet God saw one thing lacking. 
To perpetuate through the annals of time itself, one 
thing was essential. And God designated him and made 
a martyr of him. 

“Xsidor Straus was a great Jew. All the traditions 
of the Jew were dear to his heart. In the past we, as 
Jews, have been able to say the Jews are great philan¬ 
thropists. Now when we are asked, ‘Can a Jew die 
bravely?’ there is an answer in the annals of time. When 
we are asked, ‘What enabled Isidor Straus to do all 
these things?’ our answer must be,‘God blessed him and 
gave him Ida Straus.’ Isidor and Ida Straus were two 
persons with a single thought. Beloved and adored of 
each other in life, in death they were not separated. 5 ’ 


Copyright Harrli £ Ewing 

MAJ. ARCHIBALD BUTT 

Aid to President Taft. One of the heroic dead, stepping aside 

that others might be saved 






Copyright by Pach Bros., N. T. 

ISIDOR STRAUS 

The New York millionaire, who lost his life with the sinking 
of the ill-fated Titanic 




WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


U5 


At Temple Emanu-El, Fifth avenue and Forty- 
third street, the “Dead March in Saul” was played dur¬ 
ing the silent prayer. Sounds of sobbing filled the great 
edifice throughout the service, which was attended by 
Mrs. Benjamin Guggenheim, who was widowed by the 
Titanic catastrophe; Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Seligman, 
Mrs. De Witt Seligman, sister of Mr. Guggenheim; 
George Rosenheim, whose brother perished in the dis¬ 
aster; Mrs. Leo Greenfield and her son, and Mrs. Edgar 
Meyer, the last three of whom were survivors of the 
wreck. 

“God is the Law Giver of the universe,” said the 
Rev. Dr. Joseph Silverman, who preached the sermon, 
“and His laws are for the benefit of all, not of the few. 
When we violate the fundamental laws of nature we 
must suffer. 

“Men learn by experience. Many may take com¬ 
fort in the thought that the same errors will not again 
be committed, and that there will be no great sacrifice 
of life in the future from the same causes. All the 
progress in the world has been brought about by suf¬ 
fering on the part of individuals. Thousands have 
died and many more thousands have suffered in the 
cause of science. Millions have died on battlefields for 
the sake of liberty. Those on the Titantic when it went 
down must be added to the great roll of martyrs to 
progress.” 


146 


T7RECK OF TEE TITANIC 

SPECIAL SERVICE FOR MAJOR BUTT 

President and Mrs. Taft attended sendees at St. 
Paul’s Episcopal Church in Washington on Sunday 
in memory of Maj. Archibald W. Butt, the President’s 
military aid, who lost his life in the Titanic disaster. 
Major Butt was a member of St. Paul’s Church. 

The services were held at 9 o’clock, before the regu¬ 
lar morning sendee. Secretary of the Treasury Mac- 
Veagh, Secretary of War Stimson, Charles D. Hilles, 
secretary to the President, and many persons prominent 
in Washington society, including members of the Diplo¬ 
matic Corps, were present. 

The services were opened by the singing of “Nearer, 
My God, to Thee,” the hymn which the heroic bands¬ 
men on the Titanic played as the ship sank. The Rev. 
Frank Talbot, pastor of the church, took as the text of 
his sermon: 

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friend.” 

“It is not my purpose,” said Mr. Talbot, “to dwell 
at length on the life, character and death of the gallant 
soldier who sacrificed his life for his brother men. This 
is not the place to speak nor to listen to human words, 
although we are here together in this little church, where 
our beloved friend was accustomed, as he said, to slip 
in from time to time to attend early communion service, 
with which his duties did not interfere, but we are here 


WRECK OF. THE TITANIC 


U7 


to listen to the words of that Man of Nazareth, who cen¬ 
turies ago died that men might live.” 

The Rev. Mr. Talbot indorsed the proposal to erect 
a monument to the memory of Major Butt. 

“After all,” he said, “length of days does not count 
much. It seems to me that had our friend lived to a 
ripe old age his influence for bravery and for nobility 
of character could not have been greater than it is today. 
His name and his valiant death will be treasured in song 
and story for centuries to come.” 

WASHINGTON MOURNS 

The President also attended the regular services at 
All Souls Unitarian Church, and in the afternoon went 
to the memorial services at St. John’s Episcopal Church 
in honor of the Washington victims of the disaster. The 
Rev. U. G. B. Pierce, the pastor, referred to the Titanic 
disaster in his sermon. 

“This is a memorial service,” he said, “but during 
the last week our hearts have been so taxed, we have 
been strained with so many and so many conflicting 
emotions that the virtue of this service must be the vir¬ 
tue of self-restraint. We have heard enough. We have 
felt too much and we are here now to drink anew at 
the fountain of life and to fan into flame the flickering 
torch of our faith. We need strength today in the face 
of this affliction.” 


148 


WRECK OF. THE TITANIC 


The Titanic disaster was the topic of the sermons in 
many other Washington churches. The Rev. Samuel 
H. Greene, of Calvary Baptist Church, said: 

“In the events of the last week we have seen how 
sweet and beautiful womanhood could be and how noble 
manhood could be at its best, and we have seen how thin 
are the partitions that separate the fortunate from the 
unfortunate, the rich from the poor. It is not what a 
man has but what a man is that counts in the crisis of 
life. 

“On that night men stood back that women and chil¬ 
dren might reach a place of safety. The millionaire and 
the steward stood side by side and both alike were heroes. 

“But some one must bear the responsibility for that 
disaster through the years to come. So many went 
down, and they were not responsible for it. Let us wait 
patiently the result of a full and fair investigation.” 

In nearly all the Catholic churches of the city it was 
announced that requiem masses would be sung for the 
souls of the victims of the disaster. 

MANY MEMORIAL SERVICES IN CHICAGO 

Every seat of the auditorium was filled, and hun¬ 
dreds were turned away from the service in the Epis¬ 
copal Cathedral because they were unable to gain an 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 149 

entrance. Rt. Rev. Theodore N. Morrison, bishop of 
Iowa, occupied the pulpit with Dean Sumner. 

HONOR IN DISASTER 

“This is not a time for many words,” said Dean 
Sumner. “Sentences are hollow and sentiments are 
commonplace and trite in the face of such an appalling 
disaster—disaster from the worldly standpoint, but an 
honor to God from the religious point of view. 

“It has sobered the world. As we celebrate the 
death of little children as martyrs on Holy Innocents’ 
day we will memorialize those who sank on the Titanic 
as the martyrs of this age«sacrificed by God to arouse 
the world to a deeper spiritual realization, to a desire 
for a more splendid type and a consciousness that life 
is ever ending and we must be prepared to meet death 
when it comes. 

“In the risen Christ we find promise of that life to 
come, not only for those who have gone before but for 
those who remain.” 

Special prayers were offered up for the dead and 
special music by the choir. 

PROOF THAT MEN ARE GOOD 

Rev. Johnston Myers, of Immanuel Baptist Church, 
said: 

“We may safely say that the Titanic was the most 
perfect human achievement up to the present time, the 


150 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


triumph of building on land and sea. In one hour last 
Sunday it was made a pitiful wreck, and in four hours 
the ocean closed over it forever. 

“People are better than we think they are. Only 
a few months ago public opinion condemned as unfit 
one of the men who died as heroes and who is today 
acclaimed. The millionaires are not all bad men as it 
turns out. 

“The nations are remembering God today as not 
before. People are praying this Sunday who did not 
pray last Sunday.” 

FALLOWS CONDEMNED OWNERS 

Bishop Samuel Fallows, D. D., LL. D., rector of 
St. Paul’s Reformed Ejfiscopal Church, said: 

“We cannot sufficiently condemn those in charge of 
the Titanic for dashing ahead in the face of danger of 
which they had been forewarned. But let us not forget 
that there is a well-nigh insane desire among us all for 
excessive speed, both on land and sea. 

“It has been clearly demonstrated that in case of 
accidents provision is not made as to the number of 
lifeboats for caring for all on board any of the ocean 
lines. Must not this be remedied?” 

BLOW TO CLASS PREJUDICE 

Frederick E. Hopkins, pastor of Park Manor Con¬ 
gregational Church, said: 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


151 


“Among many lessons that we could learn from such 
a terrible calamity, one of the most important would 
seem to be this: That it ought to be for a long time 
more difficult than ever to arouse class prejudice, when 
this catastrophe has so clearly shown that the first and 
last thought the first cabin passenger had about the 
poorest woman in the steerage was that she should be 
given the first chance for her life no matter what hap¬ 
pened to the man or woman of millions and of fame.” 

GUILT AS OUR OWN 

Rev. William E. Danforth, pastor of Christ Church, 
Elmhurst, said: 

“In our dazed pondering of this Titanic disaster let 
us confess that the situation which shivered the ship shat¬ 
ters self-deluding ethics. The guilt is not that of any 
individual or corporation, but ours, in an age of mania 
for speed and smashing records. The one on whom ta 
fasten the blame is every man to whom all else palls 
unless he rides in the biggest ship and the fastest possi¬ 
ble. He will be guilty in his automobile tomorrow.” 

DUE TO SPEED MANIA 

Rev. W. H. Carwardine, pastor of the Windsor 
Park M. E. Church, said: 

“Fifteen hundred human lives were sacrificed, sent 
to a watery grave, with the good ship Titanic, to satisfy 


152 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


the lust for speed, greed and the maritime supremacy 
on the sea of an Atlantic steamship company. 

“The dare-devil insolence and pride of the human 
heart that would drive a vessel at such speed through a 
sea of ice and in spite of warning as to danger is stag¬ 
gering and incomprehensible.’’ 

A THOUGHTLESS PEOPLE 

Rev. Ingram E. Bill, pastor of the North Shore 
Baptist Church, said: 

“The lust for conquest and a reckless disregard of 
human life is the glaring crime of the hour. 

“What if the Titanic had evaded the icebergs and 
had swung into sight at the mouth of New York harbor 
hours before schedule time, smashing all the trans- 
Atlantic records? 

“A thoughtless people, who now condemn the tak¬ 
ing of a risk which resulted in the death of 1,500 pre¬ 
vious souls, would have hailed with hysterical delight 
this new conqueror of the waves and yelled themselves 
hoarse in their demand for more speed and bigger and 
better achievements.” 

REMEMBERED MANHOOD 

M. M. Mangasarian spoke before the Independent 
Religious Society in the Studebaker Theater. He said 
in part: 

“ ‘Noblesse Oblige’—that glorious human precept 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


153 


was strictly observed by the splendid crew and passen¬ 
gers of the stricken Titanic . ‘Be Britishers!’ cried the 
veteran Captain Smith through a megaphone from his 
bridge. There is nothing more inspiring in any of the 
Bibles in the world, except it be the more universal and 
thrilling challenge, ‘Be men!’ The Titanic episode has 
vindicated human nature grandly. Jew and Christian 
and agnostic forgot race and religion to remember that 
they were men.’’ 




154 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 




— St. Louis Globe-Democrat 
This Tragedy of the Titanic 
























































CHAPTER XIX 

STORIES OF THE RESCUED 

Scores of First Hand Accounts Reveal More of 
the Actual Happenings, the Bravery Dis¬ 
played, the Anguish Felt and the Desperation 
of the Situation Than Do the Most Graphic 
Stories of Experienced Writers. 

On the four days’ cruise back to New York many 
who had realized that their experiences would be awaited 
by an anxious world put their stories on paper while 
their nerves were still at tension from the excitement of 
the disaster they had escaped. Many others were inter¬ 
viewed on landing in Xew York or after reaching their 
homes. While these accounts vary and conflict often as 
to detail they point unanimously to the universal heroism 
of crew and passengers that stamped the disaster with a 
character peculiarly its own. 

miss hippach’s graphic story. 

“Yes, it was terrible. But it already seems like a 
dream to me.” 

So said Miss Gertrude Jean Hippach, daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Hippach, of 7360 Sheridan Road, 
Chicago, when questioned in regard to the frightful dis¬ 
aster to the Titanic and its human freight. 

155 


156 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Mrs. Hippach and her daughter left home the first 
week in January to spend three months abroad, their 
.object being to improve Mrs. Hippach’s health, and to 
visit relatives. Both mother and daughter had been 
abroad several times, four times together. As Miss 
Hippach remarked: “It was my eighth voyage across 
\lhe Atlantic; but I can’t imagine I shall ever wish to 
cross it another time.” 

“We had expected to return by the Olympic, but 
found we were not allowing ourselves time enough for 
the short visit in Paris we had planned; so we engaged 
passage on the Titanic, which we boarded at Cherbourg. 
We touched at Queenstown and then turned toward 
America. 

“The Titanic was so huge that it is hard to give an 
idea of it. It was over eight hundred feet, two blocks 
long, and wide in proportion. The staterooms were like 
rooms in a hotel. We had a regular bed and a handsome 
dressing table and chairs; and there was the lavatory 
with hot and cold water and there were electric lights 
and an electric fan, and an electric curling iron and of 
course push buttons—everything you could think of. 
One of our friends, when her husband asked her 
if she could think of anything to add to the equipment— 
laughed and said, ‘Well, we might have butter spreaders; 
I can’t think of anything else.’ ” 

“Yet, there was no searchlight,” suggested a friend. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 157 

Miss Hippach’s face was grave as she echoed in a low 
tone, “No searchlight!” 

“We had been to the concert in the evening till half 
past ten. There was lovely music. The orfhestra gave 
three fine programs every day; before luncheon, in the 
afternoon and after dinner every evening. They were 
all real musicians and were appreciated by the people 
on board, who were the finest lot of people I ever crossed 
with—people of leisure and good breeding, all of them. 

“Well, we were asleep when the crash came; it was 
on our side and we awoke instantly and sat up in bed. 
Then the big boat shivered from the shock and then 
there was a long scraping, grating kind of noise and 
bumping, and then it was still. 

“We ran out and found everybody out in the cor¬ 
ridor, asking what was the matter. A steward came 
along and said it was nothing; we had only grazed an 
iceberg. He advised us to go back to bed. We went 
back. But mother said, ‘I’ve never seen an iceberg, and 
I’m going to put on some clothes and go on deck.’ I 
tried to persuade her to go back to bed, but she was 
determined. I didn’t want to be left alone, so I dressed, 
too. I was so sleepy it took me a long time to get 
dressed; but we both put on real warm clothes. 

“If it had not been for Mr. Astor I believe we would 
have been among the lost. The last lifeboat was being 
lowered when Mr. Astor saw us. He ordered the boat 


158 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


raised so that my mother could get into it. ‘Don’t lower 
that boat until this woman gets in,’ said Mr. Astor. We 
were compelled to climb through a porthole in order to 
reach the boat, but mother would not get into it unless I 
joined her. Mr. Astor again showed chivalry by plead¬ 
ing with the officers to permit me to get into the lifeboat, 
and they did. 

“Colonel Astor was the calmest man during the 
exciting moments on the Titanic I ever saw. He smiled 
as he engineered the work of putting the women and 
children aboard the lifeboats. ‘Don’t worry, the Titanic 
will not sink, and we will all be saved,’ said Sir. Astor, 
as he aided the frightened passengers into the boats. 

“Well, we got into the lifeboat, though it didn’t seem 
necessary, and it was so cold and so far down to the sea. 
But everybody was getting in. Ours was the .last boat. 
Mrs. J. B. Thayer was in it. She rowed all night, hardly 
resting at all. She was so brave, although she must 
have known that her son and her husband—you know, 
she was the one who said her husband had ‘better die 
than live dishonored/ 

“And Mrs. Astor, too, was in our boat. We already 
knew her, that is, we knew who she was. She was crying 
and her face was bleeding from a cut. One of the oars 
struck her somehow. There was a little bride in our 
boat with her husband. She clung to him and cried that 
she would not go and leave him, so the officers finally 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


159 


pushed them both in together. There were about thirty- 
five in all in our boat, mainly from the steerage.” 

In describing the lifeboat Miss Hippach indicated 
its length roughly as about thirty feet and explained that 
the air compartments were up just under the gunwale 
all around. She said that it was about five feet deep, 
with seats against the sides. 

“We had gone back for our life belts before we got 
in, as the officers told us to do. I got mine on wrong- 
side before and the officer changed it. That was the 
reason, perhaps, why some people couldn’t sit down with 
them on. And we went back still another time and got 
some heavy steamer rugs, two of them, as the officers 
said it was going to be very cold on the water and we 
might have to stay out several hours. Even then we 
didn’t expect the Titanic to go down, you see. The rugs 
were more than we needed, and w r e gave them to a poor 
woman who had on only a night gown and a waterproof 
coat and her baby was in a night gown only. That poor 
little baby! It slept through everything! 

“After we had pushed away a little we looked at the 
steamer and I said to mother, Tt surely is sinking. See 
the water is up to those portholes!’* And very soon it 
went under. To the last those poor musicians stood 
there, playing ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee’ ”—and the 
girl’s voice trembled and stopped. 

“We had only one or two in the boat who knew any- 


160 


WRECK OF TEE TITANIC 


thing about rowing and they kept turning it this way 
and that and again and again it seemed as if w r e might 
be capsized. But we did get away from the Titanic a 
little distance before it went down. 

“We picked up eight men from the water, all third- 
class passengers, I think. The w r ater was very still and 
the sky—so many stars! Nothing but the sea and the 
sky. You can’t think how it felt out there alone by 
ourselves in the Atlantic. And there were so many 
shooting stars; I never saw so many in all my life. You 
know they say v T hen you see a shooting star some one is 
dying. We thought of that, for there were so many 
dying, not far from us. 

“It was so long, such a long, long night. At last 
there was a little faint light. The first thing we saw 
we thought was one of the Titanic's funnels sticking out 
of the water. But it wasn’t; it was the raft, the collaps¬ 
ible boat that didn’t open, with twelve men on it, stand¬ 
ing close together. They came up to us and demanded 
that we take them. But we thought they ought to say 
who they were; we were already pretty full and the 
water was getting rough. But they said they would 
jump in anyhow, so we let them come aboard, as we 
knew that jumping would surely capsize us. They were 
all stewards and waiters, men of the service of the 
Titanic . After we took them in it got still rougher, so 
that we sometimes shipped water. In fact, there was 



MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM T. STEAD 
The great educator and editor, Mr. Stead, mourned by the whole 
world, went down with the Titanic 





Copyright by C*mpk*U Btudlo, N. T. 

COLONEL JOHN JACOB ASTOR 
Lost with the Titanic, and his young bride, who was rescued 






WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


161 


nearly a foot of water in .the bottom of the boat and we 
hadn’t a basin, or dipper, not so much as a cup to dip it 
out with. Meanwhile the waves were rising and if we 
hadn’t been picked up when we were, another half hour 
would surely have been the end of us.” 

“How did you find things on the Car pat!da?” was 
asked. 

“Just lovely,” exclaimed Miss Hippach with enthu¬ 
siasm. “Nobody could have been kinder than they were. 
They kept their own people waiting and just took care 
of us. There was a warm blanket ready for each one 
and they had hot punch readv for us, or hot coffee and 
food. 

“We couldn’t sleep till night. We had to be crowded 
in somewhat. The passengers of the Carpatlnia gave up 
their rooms or shared them. We were with two old 
ladies who were very nice. But the first night we gave 
up our chance to two little brides who were very, very 
ill. They were from the Titanic . We slept on sofas in 
the dining saloon. The next night we had mattresses on 
the floor of the stateroom with the little brides and the 
old ladies slept somewhere else. The third night we slept 
in a regular bed.” 

Asked about the officers and servants of the ill-fated 
vessel, Miss Hippach said: 

“They said cheerful things right through. You 
know they are under orders never to alarm the passen- 


162 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


gers, no matter what happens. So the stewardesses 
spoke soothingly, and assured us it was only a little 
accident, that we should all be coming back on board 
again in the morning, probably. But they knew, they 
knew they were lying.” 

JACQUES FUTREELE A HERO. 

Mrs. May Futrelle, whose husband, Jacques Fu- 
trelle, the novelist, went down with the ship, was met by 
her daughter. Miss Virginia Futrelle, who was brought 
to New York from the convent of Notre Dame in Balti¬ 
more. Miss Futrelle had been told that her father had 
been picked up by another steamer. 

Mrs. Charles Copeland of Boston, a sister of the 
writer, who also met Mrs. Futrelle, was under the same 
impression. Miss Futrelle and Mrs. Copeland, with a 
party of friends, awaited at a hotel the arrival of Mrs. 
Futrelle from the dock. 

“I am so happy that father is safe, too,” declared 
Miss Futrelle, as her mother clasped her in her arms. 
It was some time before Mrs. Futrelle could compose 
herself. ♦ 

“Where is Jack?” Mrs. Copeland asked. 

Mrs. Futrelle, afraid to let her daughter know the 
truth, said: “Oh, he is on another ship.” 

Mrs. Copeland, however, guessed the truth and 
became hysterical. Miss Futrelle also broke down. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 16a 

“Jack died like a hero,” Mrs. Futrelle said. “He 
was in the smoking room when the crash came—the 
noise of the smash was terrific—and I was going to bed. 
I was hurled from my feet by the impact. I hardly 
found myself when Jack came rushing into the state¬ 
room. 

“ ‘The boat is going down, get dressed at once!” he 
shouted. When we reached the deck everything was in 
the wildest confusion. The screams of women and the 
shrill orders of the officers were drowned intermittently 
by the tremendous vibrations of the Titanic's deep bass 
fog horn. The behavior of the men was magnificent. 

“They stood back without murmuring and urged the 
women and children into the lifeboats. A few cowards 
tried to scramble into the boats, but they were quickly 
thrown back by the others. Let me say now that the 
only men who were saved were those who sneaked into 
the lifeboats or were picked up after the Titanic sunk. 

“I did not want to leave Jack, but he assured me that 
there were boats enough for all and that he would be 
rescued later. 

“ ‘Hurry up, May; you’re keeping the others wait¬ 
ing/ were his last words as he lifted me into a lifeboat 
and kissed me good-bye. I was in one of the last life¬ 
boats to leave the ship. We had not put out many 
minutes when the Titanic disappeared. I almost 
thought, as I saw her sink beneath the water, that I could 


164 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

see Jack, standing where I had left him and waving at 
me. 

SAW ASTORS PART. 

Mrs. Futrelle said she saw the parting of Col. 
John Jacob Astor and his young bride. Mrs. Astor 
was frantic. Her husband had to jump into the lifeboat 
four times and tell her that he would be rescued later. 
After the fourth time, Mrs. Futrelle said, he jumped 
back to the deck of the sinking ship and the lifeboat 
bearing his bride made off. 

LADY DUFF-GORDON’s YIYID STORY. 

I was asleep. The night was perfectly clear. I was 
awakened by a long grinding sort of shock. It was not 
a tremendous crash, but more as though some one had 
drawn a giant finger all along the side of the boat. I 
awakened my husband and told him that I thought we 
had struck something. There was no excitement that I 
could hear, but Sir Cosmo went up on deck. He 
returned and told me that we had hit some ice, apparently 
a big berg, but there seemed to be no danger. 

We were not assured of this, however, and Sir Cosmo 
went upstairs again. He came back to me and said: 

“You had better put your clothes on, because I heard 
them give orders to strip the boats.” 

We each put on a life preserver, and over mine I 
threw some heavy furs. X took a few trinkets and we 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


165 


went up to the deck. There was no excitement at that 
time. The ship had listed slightly to starboard and was 
down a little at the head. 

As we stood there one of the officers came running 
and said: 

“The women and children are to go in the boats.” 

No one apparently thought there was any danger. 
We watched a number of women and children and some 
men going into the lifeboats. At last one of the officers 
came to me and said: 

“Lady Gordon, you had better go in one of the 
boats.” 

I said to my husband: 

“Well, we might as well take the boat, although I 
think it will be only a little pleasure excursion until 
morning.” 

The boat was the twelfth or thirteenth to be launched. 
It was the captain’s special boat. There was still no 
excitement. Five stokers got in and two Americans, 
A. L. Solomon of New York and Dr. Stengel of 
Newark. Besides these there were two of the crew. Sir 
Cosmo, myself and a Miss Frank, an English girl. 

There were a number of other passengers, mostly 
frien, standing near by and they joked with us because 
we were going out on the ocean. 

“The ship can’t sink,” said one of them. “You will 
get your death of cold out there in the ice.” 


166 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


We were slung off and the stokers began to row us 
away. For two hours we cruised around. It did not 
seem to be very cold. There was no excitement aboard 
the Titanic . We were probably a thousand feet away. 

Suddenly I clutched the sides of the lifeboat. I had 
seen the Titanic give a curious shiver. Almost immedi¬ 
ately we heard several pistol shots and a great screaming 
arise from the decks. Then the boat’s stern lifted in the 
air and there was a tremendous explosion. After this 
the Titanic dropped back again. The awful screaming 
continued. Two minutes after this there was another 
great explosion. 

The whole forward part of the great liner dropped 
down under the waves. The stern rose a hundred feet, 
almost perpendicularly. The boat stood up like an 
enormous black finger against the sky. 

Little figures hung to the point of the finger and 
dropped into the water. The screaming was agonizing. 
I never heard such a continued chorus of utter despair 
and agony. 

The great prow of the Titanic slowly sank as though 
a great hand was pushing it gently down under the 
waves. As it went the screaming of the poor souls left 
on board seemed to grow louder. It took the Titanic 
perhaps two minutes to sink after that last explosion. 
It went down slowly without a ripple. 

Then began the real agonies of the night. Up to 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


167 


that time no one in our boat, and I imagine no one on 
any of the other boats, had really thought that the 
Titanic was going to sink. For a moment an awful 
silence seemed to hang over all, and then from the water 
all about where the Titanic had been arose a bedlam of 
shrieks and cries. There were women and men clinging 
to the bits of wreckage in the icy waters. 

It was at least an hour before the last shrieks died 
out. I remember next the very last cry was that of a 
man who had been calling loudly: 

“My God! My God!” 

He cried monotonously, in a dull, hopeless way. For 
an entire hour there had been an awful chorus of shrieks, 
gradually dying into a hopeless moan, until this last cry 
that I speak of. Then all was silent. 

CALIFORNIAN NOT ALARMED 

George Broden of Los Angeles, Cal., an athlete 
and head of a cement manufacturing concern, who was 
rescued by the CarpatJiia, said: 

“I was in my cabin and was preparing to retire 
when the crash came. It did not seem serioils then. I 
put on an overcoat and went to an upper deck. Fifteen 
minutes later—there had been little excitement up to 
this time—a lifeboat was lowered. Shortly after this 
everyone rushed to the deck. Lifeboats were lowered 
on all sides. 


168 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“I was beside Henry B. Harris, the theatrical man¬ 
ager, when he bade his wife good-by. Both started 
toward the side of the boat where a lifeboat was being 
lowered. Mr. Harris was told it was the rule for women 
to leave the boat first. 

“ ‘Yes, I know. I will stay,’ Harris said. Shortly 
after the lifeboats left, a man jumped overboard. Other 
men followed. It was like sheep following a leader. 

“Capt. Smith w T as washed from the bridge into the 
ocean. He swam to where a baby was drowning and 
carried it in his arms while he swam to a lifeboat which 
was manned by officers of the Titanic . He surrendered 
the baby to them and swam back to the steamer. 

“About the time Capt. Smith got back there was 
an explosion. The entire ship trembled. I had secured 
a life preserver and jumped over. 

“I struck a piece of ice and was not injured. I 
swam about sixty yards from the steamer, when there 
was a series of explosions. I looked back and saw the 
Titanic go down, bow first. Hundreds of persons were 
in the water at the time. When the great steamer went 
down they shrieked hysterically. 

“When I jumped from the steamer into the water 
the band was still playing. The lights on the Titanic 
were lit until she sank. 

“I was in the water two hours, clinging to a piece 



169 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

o’f wreckage when I was picked up by a lifeboat. About 
G o’clock in the morning the Carpaihia appeared. 

“I saw one of the stewards of the ship shoot a for¬ 
eigner who tried to press past a number of women and 
enter a lifeboat.” 

COUNTESS COMMANDS BOAT 

Miss Alice Farnam Leader, a New York physician, 
escaped from the Titanic on the same boat which car¬ 
ried the Countess Rothes. 

“The countess is an expert oarswoman,” said Dr. 
Leader, “and thoroughly at home on the water. She 
practically took command of our boat when it was found 
that the seamen who had been placed at the oars could 
not row skillfully. 

“Several of the women took their place with the 
countess at the oars, and rowed in turns, while the weak 
and unskilled stewards sat quietly in one end of the 
boat.” 

LADY ROTHES* OWN STORY 

“It was pitiful, our rowing toward the lights of a 
ship that disappeared,” she said. “We in boat No. 8 
saw some tramp steamer’s mast headlights and then 
saw the glow of red as it swung toward us for a few 
minutes, then darkness and despair. 

“There were two stewards in boat No. 8 with us 
and thirty-one women. The name of one of the stew* 


170 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ards was Crawford. We were lowered quietly to the 
water and when we had pushed off from the Titanic’s 
side I asked the seaman if he would care to have me take 
the tiller, as I knew something about boats. He said, 
‘Certainly, lady.’ I climbed aft into the stern and asked 
my cousin to help me. 

“The first impression I had as we left the ship was 
that, above all things, we mustn’t lose our self posses¬ 
sion; we had no officer to take command of our boat 
and the little seaman had to assume all responsibility. 
He did it nobly, alternately cheering us with words of 
encouragement, then rowing doggedly. Then Signora 
de Satode Penasco began to scream for her husband. 
It was too horrible. I left the tiller to my cousin and 
slipped down beside her, to be of what comfort I could. 
Poor woman, her sobs tore our hearts and her moans 
were unspeakable in their sadness. Miss Cherry stayed 
at the tiller of our boat until the Carpathia picked us up. 

“The most terrible part of the whole thing was see¬ 
ing the rows of portholes vanishing one by one. Sev¬ 
eral of us wanted to row back and see if there was not 
some chance of rescuing anyone that had possibly 
survived, but the majority in the boat argued that we 
had no right to risk their lives on the bare chance of 
finding anyone alive after the final plunge. 

“Indeed I saw—we all saw a ship’s lights not more 
than three miles away. For three hours we pulled 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


171 


steadily for the two masthead lights that showed bril¬ 
liantly in the darkness. For a few minutes we saw the 
ship’s port light, then it vanished, and the masthead 
lights got dimmer on the horizon until they too dis¬ 
appeared.” 

APPEALS WERE IGNORED 

Mrs. Lucine F. Smith of Huntington, W. Va., 
daughter of Representative James Hughes of West 
Virginia, a bride of about eight weeks, whose husband 
was lost in the wreck, gave her experiences through the 
medium of her uncle, Dr. J. H. Vincent of Hunting- 
ton, W. Va. 

“The women were shoved into the lifeboats,” said 
Dr. Vincent. “The crew did not wait until the lifeboat 
was filled before they lowered it. As a matter of fact, 
there were but twenty-six people in the boat, most all 
women, when an officer gave instructions to lower it. 
Mr. Smith was standing alongside the boat when it was 
lowered. There was plenty of room for more people 
to get into the lifeboat, the capacity being fifty. 

“Mrs. Smith implored Capt. Smith to allow her 
husband in the boat, but her repeated appeals were 
ignored. 

“This lifeboat was permitted to be lowered with but 
one sailor in it, and he was drunk. His condition was 
such that he could not row the boat and therefore the 


172 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


. 


women had to do the best they could in rowing about 
the icy waters. 

“Mrs. Smith was in the third boat that was launched, 
and in that boat was Mrs. John Jacob Astor.” 

HER SON LEFT BEHIND 

Mrs. Alexander T. Compton and her daughter, 
Alice, of New Orleans, were completely prostrated over 
the loss of Mrs. Compton’s son, Alexander, who went 
down w T ith the big liner. “When we waved good-by 
to my son,” said Mrs. Compton, “we did not realize the 
great danger, but thought we were only being sent out 
in the boats as a precautionary measure. When Capt. 
Smith handed us life-preservers he said cheerily: ‘They 
will keep you warm if you do not have to use them.’ 
Then the crew began clearing the boats and putting the 
women into them. My daughter and I were lifted in 
the boat commanded by the fifth officer. 

“There was a moan of agony and anguish from 
those in our boat when the Titanic sank, and we insisted 
that the officer head back for the place where the Titanic 
had disappeared. We found one man with a life pre¬ 
server on him struggling in cold water, and for a minute 
I thought that he was my son.” 


CHAPTER XX 

SURVIVORS’ STORIES CONTINUED 

Vivid Recollections and Pictures oe the Wreck 
by More of the Rescued 

Mrs. Turrell Cavendish, who was Miss Julia Siegel, 
daughter of the former Chicago millionaire merchant 
and clubman, Henry Siegel, was one of the survivors 
who landed from the Carpathia. Her husband was 
drowned. Mrs. Cavendish’s father, Mr. Siegel, is part 
owner of Siegel, Cooper & Co. and is interested in a 
number of big ventures. Mrs. Cavendish is well known 
in Chicago society circles. Following is her story of 
the Titanic's sinking: 

“I was asleep,” she said, “when Mr. Cavendish 
awoke me and said the ship had met with an accident. 
I hurriedly put on a wrapper and one of my husband’s 
overcoats and we both rushed to the upper deck. 

“There were many persons there and the stewards 
were assuring them that the steamer was in no danger 
of sinking. They started to fill the lifeboats with 
women passengers when the cry, ‘Save your lives V 
rang out. 

“I was in the second boat. My husband kissed me 
173 


174 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


and bade me to remain in the boat, declaring he was 
all right. There was no light, but the sky was clear. 

"Just as the lifeboat was lowered, I again kissed 
my husband. 

"One man tried to get into the boat, but a sailor, 
after questioning him, threw him aside. A Canadian, 
who stated that he could row, turned to a group of 
men on the deck who were watching the proceedings 
and said: 

" T can row, but if there is room for one more let 
it be a woman. I am not a coward.’ 

"The women in the boat beseeched the man to row 
the boat for them, and those on the deck urged him 
to do so. With a parting handclasp he lowered himself 
by a rope to the boat and took his position there. 

"I am prostrated by the loss of my husband, but 
rejoice in the fact that my two-year-old baby is saved, 
having been left at home.” 

VIVID PICTURE OE WRECK 

Miss Daisy Minahan, of Fond du Lac, Wis., who 
was with her brother, Dr. W. E. Minahan and his wife, 
told a graphic story of the shipwreck and the rescues. 
Dr. Minahan, she said, did his part in the saving of 
the women. Then with a farewell smile and the last 
words, "Be brave,” to his wife, he went back on the 
deck, which even then was awash under his feet. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


1 75 


“There were more than a score of brides in our 
party on the Titanic ” said Miss Minahan, “all coming 
back after their happy honeymoons abroad. We 
brought twenty of them, widowed by the terrible catas¬ 
trophe, to homes of mourning and tears instead of 
happiness and bliss. 

“We were sitting on the Titanic's deck in the eve¬ 
ning enjoying the crisp air and the starlit night. Old 
sailors told us the sea never had seemed so calm and 
glassy. About 9:30 o’clock the atmosphere took a sud¬ 
den drop, which drove everybody inside the cabins. We 
must have been going at a terrific rate right in the 
direction of the icebergs, for the air became so chilly in 
a few minutes that we found it impossible to keep warm 
even when we put wraps and blankets around us. 

“We had retired when there was a dull shaking of 
the Titanic , which was not so much like a shake as it 
was a slowing down of the massive craft. I noticed that 
our boat had come to a standstill and then we heard the 
orders of the captain and went on deck to see what it 
all meant. 

“I never saw such composure and cool bravery in 
my life as the men of the first and second cabins dis¬ 
played. Colonel Astor seemed to be the controlling fig¬ 
ure. He, Major Butt, Mr. Guggenheim, Mr. Widener 
and Mr. Thayer clustered in a group as if they were 


176 


WEECK OF THE TITANIC 


holding a quick consultation as to what steps should be 
taken next. 

“Then Col. Astor came forward with the cry, ‘Xot a 
man until every woman and child is safe in the boats/ 

“Many of the women did not seem to want to leave 
the vessel. Mrs. Astor clung to her husband, begging 
him to let her remain on the Titanic with him. When 
he insisted that she save herself, she threw her arms 
around him and begged him with tears to permit her to 
share his fate. 

“Col. Astor picked her up bodily and carried her to 
a boat, which was the one just ahead of ours, and placed 
her in it. 

“I lingered with my brother and his wife, loath to 
leave them, although we all knew the ship was sinking 
and that the ocean would soon swallow up all that 
remained of the steamer. We both begged my brother 
to come with us, but he said: ‘Xo, I will remain with the 
others, no matter what happens/ 

“Then, when it was time to go, when the last boat was 
being lowered to the water line, we were hurried into it 
by my brother, who bade us good-bye and said calmly 
but with feeling: ‘Be brave; no matter what happens, 
be brave/ Then he waved his hand and our boat shot 
out just in time to escape being borne down by the 
suction of the Titanic , as it went down. 

“As the ship settled there was a terrific explosion, 



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which rent it in two, and as it sank beneath the waves we 
could see my brother waving his hand to us, although ii 
is hardly possible that he could see us, for none of us had 
a light. We had nothing except the clothes we had 
hastily donned. None of us had thought of putting pro¬ 
visions or water in the boats, for we knew the Carpathia 
had been signaled to come to our rescue and was on its 
way. 

W e heard a number of shots as the boats were being 
lowered, but we were told it was the officers who were 
keeping the steerage passengers from stampeding into 
the small boats, which they repeatedly tried to do. 

“There were no outcries anywhere except from the 
steerage. 

“I shall never forget the calmness and quiet bravery 
that the men on board showed as they stood on deck and 
awaited the inevitable doom. Occasionally some of them 
would peer into the night toward our boats and wave at 
us. Then they would walk back to a group and every¬ 
thing would grow still again. 

“I saw Guggenheim, Widener, Thayer and Ismay in 
conversation with Colonel Astor just after the ship 
struck the berg.” 

A MOUNTAIN OF GLASS. 

Thomas Whitley, a waiter on the Titanic, who was 
sent to a hospital with a fractured leg, was asleep five 
decks below the main saloon deck. He ran upstairs a;id 


178 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


saw the iceberg towering high above the forward decl: of 
the Titanic . 

“It looked like a giant mountain of glass/’ said 
Whitley. “I saw that we were in for it. Almost im¬ 
mediately I heard that stokehold No. II was filling with 
water and that the ship was doomed. The watertight 
doors had been closed, but the officers fearing that there 
might be an explosion below decks called for volunteers 
to go below to draw the fires. 

“Twenty men stepped forward almost immediately, 
and started down. To permit them to enter the hold it 
was necessary for the doors to be opened again, and after 
that one could almost feel the water rushing in. It was 
but a few minutes later when all hands were ordered 
on deck with life belts.” 

EXPERIENCE OF MRS. HENRY B. HARRIS 

Mrs. Henry B. Harris, wife of the theatrical man¬ 
ager, who lost his life, told the following story: 

“We were in our stateroom when the word was 
passed for all passengers to put on life preservers and 
go on deck. This order followed within a few seconds 
after the ship struck. We did not realize the seriousness 
of the crash, thinking some slight trouble had happened 
to the engines. Even when the order was brought to 
us to put on life preservers and come on deck we still 
failed to realize the situation. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


179 


“As we went on deck we passed groups of men and 
women who were laughing and joking. When we 
reached the main deck, forward, and saw the lifeboats 
being swung overboard the seriousness of the matter 
began to dawn on us. Then came the command: 
‘Women and children first.’ 

4 Officers and members of the crew went about repeat¬ 
ing the words, ‘women and .children first.’ Many women 
had to be forced into the boats; some thinking it was a 
joke and others refusing to be parted from their 
husbands, fathers or brothers. 

“When the passengers saw the seriousness with which 
the officers and crew of the Titanic went about their 
business they began to realize that something terrible 
had happened and began to make their way towards the 
lifeboats. 

“Colonel Astor and Mrs. Astor were standing near 
us. When the men of the Titanic came to her and told 
her to get into a lifeboat she refused to leave her 
husband’s side. Then I was asked to enter one of the 
boats. My husband told me to go but I did not want to 
leave him. He reassured me, saying the danger was not 
serious and that he would follow after me in a short time. 
Still I could not believe that everything was as he said. 
I felt that if I left him something terrible would happen. 
The officers told me I would have to get into a lifeboat. 


180 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


My husband told me to and finally I was led to the side 
and lowered into a boat. 

“Mrs. Astor had left her husband and had been 
placed in another boat. As I was being lowered over the 
side I saw my husband and Colonel Astor standing to¬ 
gether. Jacques Futrelle was standing near them. My 
husband waved his hand. That was the last I saw of 
him. 

“For hours we sat freezing in the lifeboat. Then we 
saw the Carpathia and the men began to row in her 
direction. Then the Carpathia stopped and ropes were 
thrown to us and we were pulled against her side. Then 
rope ladders and swings were lowered and I was placed 
in a swing and pulled up to the deck. I stood watching 
the boats as they arrived and the passengers came on 
deck thinking every moment that my husband would 
appear. And then, when the last boat had been emptied 
I began to realize that he had gone down with the 
Titanic, which was nowhere in sight. 

HOW AN IRISH GIRL WAS SAVED 

When there was only one seat left in the last lifeboat 
of the Titanic, had Mrs. John Burke taken it the chances 
are that Miss Annie Kelly, a seventeen-year-old Chicago 
girl, might be at the bottom of the sea. So she told 
friends who gathered at her home to celebrate her lucky 
escape when the ship sank. 


181 


WRECK OF THE, TITANIC. 

Miss Kelly told in a graphic manner the conditions 
in the steerage at the time the ship struck the iceberg 
and also how she was pushed into the last seat in the last 
boat. 

With Miss Kelly when she arrived in Chicago was 
fifteen-year-old Annie McGowan, niece of Thomas Mc¬ 
Dermott, of Chicago, whose aunt. Miss Kate McGowan, 
perished in the lost ship. The girl was wrenched from 
her aunt’s side and thrust into a boat, which pushed away 
from the ship. She never saw her relative again. 

Annie Kelly and Annie McGowan embarked in the 
third cabin of the Titanic with the Burke family, which 
consisted of Mr. and Mrs. John Burke, who were com¬ 
ing to Chicago on their honeymoon; and Catherine and 
Margaret Burke, cousins of John and Margaret Manion, 
who were bound for Chicago to join their brother, 
Edward Manion. 

“I should not have been saved except for Mrs. 
Burke’s refusal to leave her husband and the Misses 
Burke saying they would not go if their uncle and aunt 
could not go with them,” said Miss Kelly. “I went in 
the very last boat and I was the very last passenger. 
The officer said there was room for just one more. 

“I was aroused by the call of the stewardess, who 
told us all to dress as quickly as we could, though she 
did not explain what was the trouble. I dressed and 
went upon the second deck. Annie McGowan was with 


182 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


me when I was going up the stairs, hut she became sepa¬ 
rated from me at the head of the stairway, and was 
carried by the throng over to the other side of the ship. 
I did not see her again until I was on the Carpathia. 

“On the side where I was carried, some wild-looking 
men were trying to rush into the boats, and the officers 
and crew fired at them. Some of the men fell. Others 
were beaten back by the officers, who used pistols on 
them.” 

TWO HEROIC CATHOLIC PRIESTS 

Survivors of the Titanic, especially those from the 
steerage, told of the heroism of two Catholic priests who, 
after assisting women and children into the last boat, 
gathered about them the doomed passengers and calmly 
sought to comfort them in the face of approaching death. 

The story of hope and faith evidenced in that hour 
by Father Byles of England and Father Peruschoetz, a 
German, entitles them to a high place in the roll of 
honor. 

The two priests had held Sunday services in the 
morning and evening — for the Catholics of various 
nationalities, addressing them in German and English. 
The rosary and litanies had been recited by all. 

The first news of the disaster brought the priests to 
the scene, where they joined with the other men in assist¬ 
ing to preserve order and insure the safety of the women 
and children. When men of all nationalities gathered 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


133 


about them and sought comfort and hope the two priests 
raised their voices and calmly, as if in the sanctuary, 
repeated over and over again the rosary. 

No man, according to the story of those present, was 
turned away. The priests ministered to Catholics and 
non-Catholics alike. As the sinking vessel listed more 
and more the crowd about the priests grew larger, and 
all joined fervently in the prayers. Those in the boats 
pulling away from the vessel could see the men kneeling 
on the deck, but it is related that in the last moment, 
when the lights went out, no shrieks were heard nor cries 
of terror from the group where the faithful pastors 
serenely and devoutly sought to comfort those about 
them. 

VETERAN LAKE CAPTAIN WARNS 

Another story of self-possession and undaunted 
courage in the face of death was that of Capt. E. G. 
Crosby, of Milwaukee, veteran Lake Michigan navi¬ 
gator and president of the Crosby Transportation Com¬ 
pany. “Better dress; ail the other passengers are doing 
it,” were his calm words to his wife and daughter as he 
entered their stateroom shortly after the collision. Capt. 
Crosby was lost, but his wife and daughter were saved. 

The majority of those who perished were caught 
sound asleep in their berths, according to Miss Crosby. 
The warning to his wife and daughter given, Capt. 


184 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Crosby hurried on deck to assist the other men. That 
was the last seen of him by Mrs. Crosby or her daughter. 
They were helped into the next to the last boat that left 
the vessel. 



Cincinnati Post 












CHAPTER XXI 


ON THE ROLL OF HONOR 

Splendid Public Tributes to Well-Known Men 
Among the Heroes oe the Titanic 

ISIDOR AND IDA STRAUS 

Who that hereafter writes of Isidor Straus can fail 
to write of Ida Straus? Linked in loyal life they were 
joined forever in a noble death. 

If Isidor Straus was a great merchant, a great phi¬ 
lanthropist, a clear-headed economist and a noble citizen, 
Ida Straus was a great woman, also a great philanthro¬ 
pist, a noble mother, a loyal, loving wife. 

If Isidor Straus was the patriarch and honored head 
of a great family, Ida Straus was the serene and indis¬ 
pensable mistress of an honored home. 

If Isidor Straus was a civic and commercial power, 
Ida Straus was a social and domestic force. 

If Isidor Straus, after a life of honorable living, 
died a hero’s death, so Ida Straus, after forty years of 
loyal loving, found of her own choice a heroine’s end. 

The beautiful examples of noble living and of nobler 
dying meet in these remembered names. 

In an age of material absorption they have given a 
185 


186 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


new and gentler illustration of the fidelity and tender¬ 
ness of love. 

In an age of domestic disloyalty and divorce they 
have wreathed a fadeless beauty around the deathless tie 
of marriage. 

In life they were united. In death they refused to 
be divided. 

As the world was better for their united living, so it 
shall be better for their loyal and undivided death. 

MAJOR ARCHIBALD BUTT 

In all the gallant fyand of men and gentlemen who 
went down to glory in the Titanic's wreck, there is no 
knightlier and more chivalric figure than Archibald W. 
Butt. 

He was a journalist, a gentleman, a courtier and a 
soldier in the armies of his country—measuring finely 
and fully to the high standards of each calling that he 
adorned. 

It is not too much to say that even in the list of 
heroes in this epic of the sea there is a more than ordi¬ 
nary tenderness that wraps about the memory of the 
young chevalier of the new South—so gentle, so genial, 
so gifted, so tender and so true. 

Born in Georgia of its bluest blood, Archibald Butt 
fought his way up like his fellows from the ashes of 
the South of the ’60s—emerged from the ranks into 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


187 


dignity and high repute. As a Washington corre¬ 
spondent he was brilliant and popular. As a volunteer 
in the Spanish-American war he was a valiant and 
effective soldier in the ranks and as an officer. As the 
personal aid and social director of the White House 
he was the beloved of two Presidents of the United 
States, and won golden opinions from the American 
public. 

And in the final supreme emergency—thinking 
always of others rather than himself, joining gentle¬ 
ness, serenity and firm authority with loftiest sacrifice 
—he mingled the finest pulses of his race and creed, 
and, wrapping the mantle of the English Sidney about 
his knightly shoulders, went down—to immortality. 

COL. JOHN JACOB ASTOR 

The name of John Jacob Astor, which has run for 
a hundred years through the commercial and social life 
of the metropolis, has taken on a new and nobler color 
in the passing of the last wearer of a famous name. 

The last John Jacob Astor was a good soldier, a 
good sailor, an inventor of note, a builder of stately 
public houses, an author and a generous citizen. He 
was one among the few rich men of the metropolis 
who gave their money and themselves to the service of 
their country. He equipped a full battery of artillery 
and faced the bullets of the Spaniards at Santiago. 

One of the richest men in America, a leader of its 


188 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ultimate social circle, newly married to a young and 
beautiful woman, John Jacob Astor had perhaps as 
much about him to make life sweet and to make death 
terrible as any man in all the great company of the 
Titanic . 

And yet when the great moment came he laid down 
his life as bravely as a soldier, as calmly as a philos¬ 
opher, and with as sweet and quiet a philanthropy as 
if his days were without color and his years without 
hope. 

If the John Jacob Astors of the century past have 
lived like princes, this one but yesterday died like a 
man. 

And the great name he bore is better known and 
better honored for his life and death. 

The brave young wife who remembered others in 
mercy on that dreadful night has won the country’s 
sympathy and respect. 

GEORGE D. WIDENER 

The Wideners of Philadelphia are a hearty race. 
Their money has not sapped their manhood. George 
D. Widener was big, red-blooded, genial—a man of 
courage and tenderness, so tried and proved that when 
the news came that there had been need for men to die 
on the Titanic in order that women and children might 
live his friends all knew that Widener was dead. 

Men like J. Bruce Ismay may w T rite voluminous 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


189 


statements and bring many witnesses to excuse their 
conduct, but the more they excuse, the more they accuse 
themselves. They can never answer the indictment of 
the men who die for the weak. Their clamor for ex¬ 
culpation is drowned by the deep silence of men like 
Widener. 

It is recorded of George D. Widener that “he went 
down with the ship, fighting for the rights of the women 
and children.” 

A hero is a man who actually does what everybody 
knows a man ought to do. To die for the women and 
children, in emergencies, when the issue is plain, is a 
matter of instinct with brave men. It is useless to 
argue against it—because it is not a theory. 

It is a perception. 

Widener understood. The man who could not resist 
an impulse to carry the clothes basket of an overbur¬ 
dened washer woman understood perfectly. 

WILLIAM T. STEAD 

In his death as in his life, Mr. Stead stands domi¬ 
nant in the foreground of the greatest news. He was 
the 'Examiner's staff correspondent in London—a mas¬ 
ter journalist, comprehending not only the outside of 
the news, but also its inner implications. 

His eye was prophetic. He looked through events 
and beyond. He both made history, and recorded it. 


190 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


If be bad a generous dream of what ought to be, be 
was the first to help it to come true. 

Because of his passion for the improvement of the 
world, Stead was religious. He was on his way to 
America to preach a single sermon—and return. That 
sermon would have been preached Monday night, April 
22, at Carnegie Hall. 

Stead did not miss his engagement; the sermon was 
preached, indeed. It was flung to the world, with sub¬ 
lime persuasion—wireless, wordless—from the place 
where the Titanic went down. 

For Stead was one of that group of immortals— 
of imperishable memory like the men of the Alamo— 
who would not leave the ship because there was no way 
to leave it with honor and humanity. 

He died as he had lived—journalist, prophet, evan¬ 
gelist. Already his name was known everywhere; now 
his fame also is everywhere known—with a mourning 
affection that rejoices in the established greatness of 
his heart. 

BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM 

It is related that the great Napoleon—as he sat 
on his horse observing a detachment of troops that were 
moving forward into the thick of a desperate action 
*—called the attention of his aids to the pale, set face of 
a certain common soldier, saying: 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


191 


“There is a brave man; for he knows his danger, 
yet faces it.” 

The stories of Benjamin Guggenheim’s death do 
not say that he was pale or perturbed in the face of the 
great disaster; but they do say that he showed by his 
words and deeds that he knew his danger. Indeed, 
there is no other man in the long roll of Titanic heroes 
who left behind so clear a record of that consciousness 
of desperate peril which was Napoleon’s test of perfect 
courage. 

Whatever may be said of any other man, it is cer¬ 
tain that Benjamin Guggenheim was not nerved to 
his deed of chivalry and sacrifice by any hope that the 
price would not need be paid. To Johnson, his room- 
steward, whose superior prowess as a swimmer gave 
him an exceptional chance to be saved, Mr. Guggen¬ 
heim said: 

“I think there is grave doubt that the men will get 
off. Tell my wife that I played the game out straight 
and to the end. My duty now is to the unfortunate 
women and children on this ship. Tell her I will meet 
whatever fate is in store for me, knowing that she will 
approve .”—Chicago Examiner. 














— St. Louis Globe-Democrat 

Grieve Not, the Spirit or Manhood Still Lives 













THE STEAMSHIP CARPATHIA THAT RES¬ 
CUED TITANIC PASSENGERS 




















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CHAPTER XXII 
COMMENTS OF THE PRESS 


Some of the Pertinent Expressions of Opinion by 
Leading Journalists of America 

people in too much hurry 

The trouble nowadays is that people wish to go 
with a rush. Subway trains whiz along through the tun¬ 
nel at top speed; automobiles dash through the streets 
at a speed of a mile in two minutes, and ocean liners 
tear through the water, each striving to break a record. 
The Titanic was moving at a speed of twenty-one miles 
when she struck the iceberg which sent her down. So 
large and unwieldy was this ship that it could not be 
stopped inside of three miles. And yet it tore on 
through the night in the midst of ice fields. The pas¬ 
sengers paid the penalty of speed. Not all the blame 
should rest on Captain Smith. It is not reasonable to 
suppose that he risked his own life, the safety of more 
than two thousand persons, and a valuable ship merely 
for the glory of making a record on a maiden trip. Not 
at all; Captain Smith went at high speed because every 
one was in a hurry; because the persons on the vessel 
193 


194.- 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


wished to get to New York as soon as possible. The 
speed was deadly; and there is a lesson in this awful 
shipwreck. Do not rush when rushing imperils life.— 
Morning Telegraph , New York. 


THE ILIAD TURNED EPIC NOW 

The seas have been swept by an epic that will live 
while the memory of man endures. 

The world has had a new baptism of heroism and 
splendid sacrifice, and the race of men is consecrated 
anew by sublime example to chivalry and unselfish 
faith. 

It comes timely to a carping age, this message of 
denial which the remorseless sea sends above its engulf¬ 
ing billows to this old world, said to be sordid, and 
thought to be hard and cold. 

There were no distinctions of race or creed or cul¬ 
ture in the altruistic heroism which from the sinking 
decks of the Titanic enriched history and inspired the 
world. 

There stood the splendid Englishman at the wheel 
and there stood the splendid Americans on the deck. 
The stanch Catholic, the loyal Protestant, the gentle 
Hebrew, and even the gambler, without creed, mounted 
the heights of godlike heroism before they went to death 
in the sea. 

Captain Smith was born in Surrey, Colonel Astor 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


195 


was born in New York. Isidor Straus, a great Jew, 
wrapped his arms about Ida Straus, a great Jewess, 
and they went smiling down to death together. Colonel 
John Jacob Astor was a man of millions, which are said 
to make men cold. He was a type of fashion, a master 
of cotillons, and a leader of the 400 in the brightest city 
in the world. 

William T. Stead was a man of letters, a pale, 
patient student, in whose thoughtful veins the red blood 
of resolution might have been expected to go slowly. 
Henry B. Harris was a playwright and a master in 
the mimic world, where life’s passions and splendors 
are said to be unreal. And Archie Butt was born of 
the chivalric South, cavalier in manner and gallant in 
speech—the velvet-gloved and iron-handed Archie— 
perhaps the gentlest and the knightliest soul of all that 
hero band. 

“For there was neither East nor West 
Border nor breed nor birth 
When these brave men stood face to face, 

Though they came from the ends of the earth.” 

So that it was the race—the race of men who have 
blazoned in light and glory against the aurora of that 
solemn dawn, the inspiring, the glorious fact that neither 
greed nor gold, neither ambition nor power, neither 
fashion nor folly have corrupted or crushed the inde- 


196 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

structible chivalry and sacrifice that lives in the hearts 
of men. 

Take heart, oh doubter, and let cynic and skeptic 
go henceforth slow. The race is not degenerate, and 
the future of our country is secure. The Titanic , sink- 
ing, uncovered the universal heart-beat that can always 
be reached by life’s noblest appeal. 

To protect the weak and to love your neighbor as 
yourself is the highest Divine and human law condensed 
through a thousand years of living. 

In this high conception the stupendous incident may 
reach its noblest meaning. The Titanic 3 s heroes have 
not died in vain. It was worth the majestic steamship, 
and even worth two thousand human lives, if the world 
comes once more to believe in its better self—if the 
race is inspired and led to better living and to better 
dying—to greater charity and to nobler hope. 

And so this vast iliad of the ocean may soften at last 
into the most serene and splendid epic ever writ on 
land or sea .—John Temple Graves, in the Chicago 
Examiner . 


REGULATION OF WIRELESS REQUIRED 

America may make, as the London papers have 
said, “hasty and often cruel verdicts,” but in the Titanic 
case America is becoming daily more glad that the 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


197 


investigating ccmmittee of United States senators had 
the energy and vision to board the Carpathia before 
she docked. Else, who knows how little of the truth 
about the wreck w T e would ever have known? 

The testimony has taught us that even the wire¬ 
less, the wonderful instrument for lessening the perils 
of the sea, may become in unworthy hands an instru¬ 
ment for capitalizing human agony instead of alleviat¬ 
ing it. We have learned that this new force must be 
sternly regulated if it is to perform its due service to 
humanity —Chicago Evening Post. 


MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN-THESE THREE 

We call our age, commercial, material. In a sense 
it is. But we are apt to carry our meaning far. Espe¬ 
cially as regards women we imply that chivalry is 
passed. “A gentleman of the old school,” we say. Our 
epithets of courtesy are taken from the Middle Ages. 

Of late years, with women among the workers, the 
keen edge of gallantry, we say, is lost. With suffragists 
demanding equal rights, there has been lament for the 
good old days of “woman’s sphere” and man’s gentle¬ 
ness in power. 

And now— 

“Women and children first!”—on the listing deck 
of the Titanic . 



198 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Stoker, valet, millionaire, responded true to the 
primal instinct—true, too, to the finest culture. Stories 
there are (probably true) of some frenzy, of some 
unmanliness. Let them pass. Cowards were of the 
brave Stone Age. Cravens were a reproach to knight¬ 
hood. The large fact stands undimmed—women and 
children were the first care. Not many women were 
lost save by some act of devotion on their part, or some 
mischance. Few men were saved except by some good 
chance, or some rare fortitude. 

The greatest sea tragedy of history is in the mate¬ 
rial Twentieth Century. More sacrificial idealism 
relieved it than any recorded incident of the Golden 
World affords. 

We may cherish that and build high hopes on it. 
We may cherish it for what it means for the women and 
children of the race. Man still has the patriarchal 
impulse to protect his womankind. A tremendous inci¬ 
dent disclosed it in tragic beauty. Less dramatically, 
the same impulse has shown itself as clearly to hearts 
©f faith. 

A civilization whose men of all individual types 
stand back from the lifeboats for the women and chil¬ 
dren is only superficially material. What of neglect 
and cruelty oppress its women and children will not 
endure. 

It is written: 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 199 

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends.” 

The sacrificial love of the man race for the woman 
race, the child race —that endures .—Kansas City Star . 


“from these honored dead” 

Most of the dead on the Titanic died heroically, 
yielding their lives both that the women and children 
of the ship’s company might live and that the lives of 
thousands of others totally unknown to them might be 
spared in the future. They perished for their fellows 
as truly as soldiers who give their lives in a nation’s 
defense, for the world can never forget what they did 
and suffered in a supreme crisis, and will be made wiser 
and better for'their inspiring sacrifice. 

It is a painful thought that some must die that 
others may be saved and many suffer that a succeeding 
generation may benefit. But that is the law of this 
imperfect world, slowly struggling toward distant goals 
of a moral and material betterment. Progress can 
seldom be accomplished without the martyrs whose suf¬ 
ferings stir the public imagination and set at work the 
influences which compel another forward movement. It 
is for the living always, as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, 
to take increased devotion to the cause for which the 
dead have given the last full measure of devotion. The 



200 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


heroes of the Titanic will not have died in vain if by 
their sacrifice the perils of the sea are henceforth mate¬ 
rially lessened and the recklessness with which those 
perils have been faced becomes a discreditable memory. 

-—New York Tribune . 


"women and children saved" 

After the world had settled down to the belief that 
no lives had been lost by the accident to the great ocean 
liner, the Titanic, it learned with horror that more than 
1,500 of the passengers and crew went to the bottom 
of the Atlantic in that ill fated vessel. 

The shock of this terrible loss is accompanied by 
feelings of pride and admiration because the men on 
board, facing death, stood back and gave the women 
and children the places in the boats that were launched 
as the big ship settled down into its grave. There were 
heroes in plenty on board the Titanic , as well as men of 
great wealth and wide renown. 

The human race mourns its heavy loss, but it accepts 
the boatloads of rescued women and children as a 
precious token of the high courage and the loving self- 
sacrifice of the men who took the plunge to the bottom 
of the deep that the weaker companions of their peril 
might live. 

Greenland’s glaciers, which in Melville bay and 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


201 


elsewhere expose at the water’s edge sheer fronts of 
ice having a w T idth of twenty-rive to thirty miles, calved 
the icebergs that thronged the pathway of ocean vessels 
in the North Atlantic. 

While the old deadly perils still haunt the sea lanes 
—perils that, as the unhappy Titanic has demonstrated, 
even the greatest ships cannot face with safety—the 
wireless is now available to summon help in any time 
of calamity. It is a bitter disappointment to learn that 
aid promptly extended did not suffice to save many hun¬ 
dreds of those on the Titanic . The one bit of con¬ 
solation from the calamity is that the world has been 
enriched by another example of tender devotion to 
others on the part of men who were facing imminent 
death .—Chicago Daily News . 


NO HERO DIES IN VAIN 

For the rest of the world, for the millions whom the 
disaster did not touch personally, the lasting thought 
will be this: 

Every great disaster, every great affliction, rightly 
interpreted and rightly used, is a lesson and a help to 
all of the human race throughout the future. 

No martyr, no hero, dies in vain. The safety and 
the progress of the world are built upon the afflictions 
and the sufferings of those that have gone before us. 



202 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


The children of the men and women that died on 
the Titanic will find the last expression of their duty 
in Lincoln’s immortal words of dedication upon the 
battlefield of Gettysburg: 

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field 
as a final resting place for those who here gave their 
lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting 
and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger 
sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we 
cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and 
dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above 
our poor power to add or detract. The world will 
little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but 
it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, 
the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished 
work which they who fought here have thus far so 
nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi¬ 
cated to the great task remaining before us—that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that 
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devo¬ 
tion—that we highly resolve that these dead shall not 
have died in vain.” 

Life is one great battlefield. This earth has been a 
field of battle through all the thousands of centuries of 
life here. And for many centuries to come it still must 
remain a field of battle. 

Those that survive must find their comfort in the 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


203 


heroism of the dead. And the race must find its lesson 
and its growth in the experiences and the suffering 
of the past. 

Far out in the Atlantic ocean there is a dreary spot, 
with here and there, perhaps, a broken oar, or a float¬ 
ing body. Desolate and wide the ocean spreads beneath 
the dark sky, at the spot where the great ship sank. 

But in all space that ocean and the planet upon 
which it rolls are but a speck. 

Time is the real ocean, the ocean that has no limit 
to its depths and that has no boundaries. 

The brave men and women of the Titanic are added 
to the heroes of that great ocean of time—the ocean 
that covers all the past, the ocean beneath whose waves 
brave men and women lie at rest, all the brave spirits 
that have lived honorably and died courageously on 
this planet. 

It is a glorious thing for a man or a woman to have 
his name added to the list of those consecrated by time 
and by courage. 

Every noble death does its good work. Other human 
beings will travel more safely and many thousands of 
lives will be saved as a result of the disaster so needless, 
so cruel .—Chicago Sunday Examiner . 


204 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 
FROM CAPTAIN SMITH’S WIDOW 


The widow of Captain Smith, commander of the 
Titanic, wrote a pathetic message which was posted 
outside the White Star offices in London on the Thurs¬ 
day following the wreck. It read as follows: 

“To My Poor Fellow Sufferers: My heart over¬ 
flows with grief for you all and is laden with sorrow 
that you are weighed down with this terrible burden 
that has been thrust upon us. May God be with us and 
comfort us all. .Yours in deep sympathy, 

“Eleanos Smith." 



<—Des Moines Register and Leader 
Cast in Shadow 





FACTS ABOUT THE TITANIC 

The Titanic's length over all was 882 feet 6 inches. 
182^/2 feet more than the height of the Metropolitan 
tower in New York City, and 3 1-3 times the height of 
Chicago’s highest building. The Bunker Hill monu¬ 
ment is one-fourth as high, and the Washington monu¬ 
ment itself 300 feet shorter. 

Some of the statistics follow: 

Tonnage, registered. 45,000 

Tonnage, displacement. 66,000 

Length over all. 882 feet, 6 inches 

Breadth over all . 92 feet, 6 inches 

Breadth over boat deck.. 94 feet 

Height from bottom of keel to boat 

deck . 97 feet, 4 inches 

Height from bottom of keel to top 

of captain’s house. 105 feet, 7 inches 

Height of funnels above casing.... 72 feet 

Height of funnels above boat deck 81 feet, 6 inches 
Distance from top of funnel to keel 175 feet 

Number of steel decks. 11 

Number of watertight bulkheads. 15 

Passengers carried . 2,500 

Crew. 860 

Cost. $10,000,000 

205 














206 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Every line was calculated to be a little more impres¬ 
sive than that on any ship previously built. The great 
steel plates used in the hull included some as long as 
86 feet, weighing 4% tons each. Some of the great 
steel beams were 92 feet long, weighing 4 tons. 

The rudder itself weighed 100 tons and of course 
was operated by electricity. The center turbine 
weighed 22 tons, and each of the two wing propellers 
88 tons. The big boss arms from which the propellers 
were suspended tipped 73 tons. Even the anchor chains 
contributed their dimensions to the amazing total, with 
each link tipping 175 pounds. The 3,000,000 rivets 
used in construction weighed in aggregate 1,200 tons. 



Diagram Showing Location and Distance From Titanic of Other Ships 
on Night of Disaster 










A Cross Section of the Titanic, Showing the Numerous Decks 


207 



































" ' 


CHAPTER XXIII 

GREAT MARINE DISASTERS IN RECENT 
YEARS 

1866, January 11—Steamer London on its way to 
Melbourne, foundered in the Bay of Biscay; 220 
lives lost. 

1866, October 3—Steamer Evening Star from New 
York to New Orleans, foundered; 250 lives lost. 

1867, October 29—Royal Mail steamers Rhone and 
Wye, and about 50 other vessels driven ashore and 
wrecked at St. Thomas, West Indies, by a hurri¬ 
cane; 1,000 lives lost. 

1873, January 22—British steamer Northfieet sunk in 
collision off Dungeness; 300 lives lost. 

1873, November 23—White Star liner Atlantic wrecked 
off Nova Scotia; 547 lives lost. 

1875, May 7—Hamburg mail steamer Schiller wrecked 
in fog on Scilly isles, 200 lives lost. 

1875, November 4—American steamer Pacific in col¬ 
lision thirty miles southwest of Cape Flattery; 236 
lives lost. 

1878, March 24—British training ship Eurydice, a 
frigate, foundered near the Isle of Wight; 300 lives 
lost. 


208 



Photo Underwood Sc Underwood 

ORPHANED BY THE WRECK 

When the Carpathia reached New York these two little French children were found in the care of 

Miss Hayes, a survivor. Their father went down with the Titanic 






















AWAITING THE HKD 











WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


209 


1878, September 3—British iron excursion boat Prin¬ 
cess Alice sunk in collision in the Thames; 700 lives 
lost. 

1878, December 18—French steamer Byzantin, sunk 
in collision in the Dardanelles, with the British 
steamer Rinaldo; 210 lives lost. 

1880, January 31—British training ship Atlanta left 
Bermuda with 290 men and was never heard from. 

1889, March 16—United States warships Trenton, Van- 
dalia and Nipsic and German ships Adler and Eber 
wrecked on Samoan Islands; 147 lives lost. 

1891, March 17—Anchor Liner Utopia in collision with 
British steamer Anson off Gibraltar and sunk; 574 
lives lost. 

1893, June 22—British battleship Victoria sunk in col¬ 
lision with the Camperdown off Syria; 357 lives 
lost. 

1894, June 25—Steamer Norge wrecked on Rockall 
Reef in North Atlantic; nearly 600 lives lost. 

1895, January 30—German steamer Elbe, sunk in col¬ 
lision with British steamer Crathie in North Sea; 
335 lives lost. 

1895, March 11—Spanish cruiser Reina Regenta foun¬ 
dered in Atlantic at entrance to Mediterranean; 400 
lives lost. 





210 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

1898, July 2—Steamship Bourgogne rammed British 
steel sailing vessel Cromartyshire and sank rapidly; 
571 lives lost. 

1904, June 15—General Slocum, excursion steamboat 
with 1,400 persons aboard; took fire while going 
through Hell Gate, East Biver; more than 1,000 
lives lost. 

1905, September 12 — Japanese steamship Mikasa 
wrecked by explosion; 599 lives lost. 

1907, February 21—English mail steamship Berlin 
wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives lost. 








CHAPTER XXIV 




“THE TRAGEDY OF THE SEA’ 9 
By Rev. Andrew Johnson 

“And the sea gave up its dead.”—Rev. 20:13. 

Prophets have prophesied, poets have sung of the 
sea, sailors have sounded its hidden depths and painters 
have painted its glory and its gloom. 

“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean; 

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain.” 

Today the attention of a civilized world is focused 
upon the fell disaster—that greatest of all disasters of 
the sea. The dark graveyard of the Atlantic has 
unfolded its bosom and taken to its trust over fifteen 
hundred human victims. 

The catastrophe “speaks a various language” and 
makes a lasting impression upon art, science, business, 
government and religion. The startling news of the 
tragedy for the past days has flashed over the wires, 
appeared on the pages of the press and lingered on the 
lips of the public. It has fallen everywhere as the 
“words of a fatal song.” 


211 


212 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


These warning tones of the Titanic's fate will no 
doubt ring loud and long in the ears of an awakened 
world. One of the first lessons, taught in no uncertain 
terms, is that of nature’s supremacy over man. While 
man is ruler in many realms and great in his delegated 
lordship over many things, yet he must yield the palm, 
the crown and the scepter to a higher power. For with 
all his pomp and power and vaunted strength, with all 
his grand records of past achievements, he is still hedged 
about and hemmed in on all sides by the inflexible laws 
of Deity, and the stern forces of nature. What, though 
he has tunneled mountains, dug canyons, bridged rivers, 
harnessed steam, coupled together continents, captured 
the lightning, soared through the air as on eagle’s wings, 
plucked messages out of the heavens and practically 
annihilated space, yet for all that is he not baffled and 
beaten by hitherto unsolved problems and unconquered 
forces? Like a Mohammed or a Canute, he may com¬ 
mand the mountain to come or the waves to go, only to 
be defeated and disobeyed. 

Nothing like the recent wreck in all the annals of 
history has so powerfully and keenly emphasized the 
insecurity of man and the limitations of human strength. 
At best, he is but a frail mortal in the midst of, and in 
comparison to the greater forces of nature—a mere 
atom, as it were, in the midst of immensity. 

Relative to the famous and fateful Titanic, there 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


213 


are portrayed upon the minds of the people two pictures 
of sharp contrasts, the one representing strength, power 
and glory, the other revealing weakness, sorrow and 
failure. No poet’s pen, no orator’s tongue, no painter’s 
brush could overdraw or overestimate the majesty of 
that proud mammoth ship as, launched and loaded, she 
starts on her maiden, her first, her last journey across 
the Atlantic. The inventive genius of man was taxed 
to its utmost in her wonderful construction and superb 
equipment. All the modern comforts of life, all the 
conveniences of land, all the luxuries of the rich, were 
lavished upon her. There were golf grounds, tennis 
courts, swimming pools, promenades, elegant parlors 
and concert halls—all things except a sufficient number 
of lifeboats in case of danger—that which should have 
been first and foremost was last and least in the consider¬ 
ation of this journey—a true type, however, of Amer¬ 
ican and Anglo-Saxon life of today. 

Thus fitted and furnished, the queen of the ocean, 
the mistress of the sea, a veritable floating palace of 
the deep, takes the commercial highway of the wide 
waters and sails for her desired port, proudly plowing 
the billows and breaking all records for speed. Meas¬ 
uring nearly nine hundred feet in length, towering like 
a city skyscraper, strong in her native strength and 
structure of steel, she poses as the very personification 
of safety. She claims and carries as her passengers. 


214 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


millionaires, bankers, world-famed editors, authors 
actors, generals, pulpiteers, men of great renown and 
national character. She was manned and controlled 
by an expert and experienced sea captain and a large 
crew. The finest bands of music played, the sun of 
prosperity smiled, and it seemed that all things were 
replete—that nothing could be added to the comfort 
and convenience of those on board—all that remained 
for them to do was to “eat, drink and be merry” and 
enjoy the most pleasant journey of their lives. 

Safely enfolded in the strong arms of the gigantic 
steel structure of the White Star line, men laughed 
to scorn all thoughts of danger and considered prayer 
for journeying mercies and providential protection 
needless. Why worry over wind, wave, hidden rocks 
and treacherous shoals; the invincible vessel is sure of 
her desired haven. Often when we feel we are the 
safest, hidden dangers lurk the nearest. So it was with 
the ill-fated ship Titanic. Sailing along under the sil¬ 
very veil of a star-lit night, her thousands of brilliant 
lights flashing out on the surrounding air, she meets 
a monster in her pathway. It is the crystal king of 
the emerald waters, the “ghostly sentinel of the banks,” 
mantled with mist and arrayed in long robes of cloudy 
fog, a mountain of ice journeying southward, which 
claims the right of way and disputes the supremacy 
of the gallant ship. Then the art of man and the power 





The Tragedy of the Titanic 















































































































































216 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


of nature measured arms. The trident of Neptune 
was triumphant. Man’s scepter fell, his crown was 
broken, the sullen crash of the impact of boat and berg 
has sounded around the world and aroused all nations. 
The last act of the tragedy of the Titanic at best can 
only be partially known, the full history of that final 
and fearful moment is buried in the two-mile tomb of 
the Atlantic, only to be fully revealed at the resurrec¬ 
tion of the last day when the sea gives up its dead. 

How suddenly the voice of mirth, the music of the 
midnight dance is changed into a doleful funeral dirge. 
Truly, 

“Death rides on every passing breeze. 

And lurks in every flower.” 

As worshippers gathered to the Lord’s sanctuary on 
the holy Sabbath day just a week from the time of the 
awful disaster, they recognized, perhaps as they had 
not for some time, that He vriio walked on the storm- 
tossed waves of Galilee and made the yielding waters 
a sapphire pavement under his feet, that He who stilled 
the tempest with the voice of his imperative word, is 
the only “Sovereign of the sea,” the only Master of 
nature. 

The awful disaster brings to light more clearly than 
ever that the curse of the world and the crime of this 
age is the spirit of rivalry, the craze for speed, the desire 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


217 


for luxury. The train of humanity, on account of this 
dare-devil disposition for reckless adventure, is run¬ 
ning so fast that it has already developed a “hot box” 
and is doubtless doomed to wreck if there isn’t a halt 
called soon. People generally are too reckless and rest¬ 
less. There is witnessed on every hand, in all circles 
and realms of twentieth century activity, an untem¬ 
pered and untamed mania for speed. The regular move¬ 
ments of modern machinery it seems can no longer 
satisfy this depraved and abnormal desire. Hence the 
strong hand of legislative enactment must, for the sake 
of the public welfare, put up a safeguard. Instead of 
luxury and speed, regard for safety and human life 
should and must be the rule oi those who “go down to 
the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.” 

The element of heroism and self-sacrifice displayed 
by some of the men and the undying devotion exhibited 
by the wife who refused to leave her husband, are silver 
linings to the dark cloud of the awful disaster, are 
redeeming features to the dreadful calamity. This, 
however, is only one of the innumerable instances of 
the great law of vicarious sacrifice. 

While death is taking such heavy toll from human 
life, it is well for one and all to heed the admonition, 
“Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not 
the Son of man cometh.” 


218 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 



THE REFUGE 


■St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 



























































CHAPTER XXV 

HELP FOR TITANIC SURVIVORS 


The World Straightway Expressed Its Sympathy 
by Offering Practical Help 

The suffering survivors, on landing from the Car - 
pathia, were immediately taken to hospitals and homes 
where they were fed, clothed, cared for and comforted 
and then started on their way. All over the world the 
people responded to the call for more lasting financial 
assistance and contributions were taken in the churches; 
funds were started by mayors and newspapers until 
quite a tidy sum was accumulated to help the destitute 
ones. 

Vincent Astor, the only son of Col. John Jacob 
Astor, who was one of the victims, led off with his 
$10,000 gift to Mayor Gaynor’s fund. 

This contribution was delivered in the form of a 
check at the mayor’s office by William A. Dobbyn, sec¬ 
retary to the late Colonel Astor, who brought it with a 
note from Vincent Astor. 

“Will you please accept the inclosed check as a con¬ 
tribution from me to the fund for the needy survives 

219 


220 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


of the Titanic disaster?’’ the message ran, and Mayor 
Gaynor replied with this letter: 

“Dear Mr. Astor: Your generous contribution to the 
fund for the relief of the survivors of the Titanic dis¬ 
aster and of the dependents of those who lost their lives 
is at hand. 

“Permit me to express to Mrs. Astor and to the 
whole family through you my sympathy with you all 
in the great loss which you have sustained. My acquaint¬ 
ance with your father was a most agreeable one, and 
the oftener I met him the more his generous, superior, 
and democratic qualities grew on me. He was a man 
among men. The heroic way in which he met his death, 
disregarding himself and looking to the safety of others, 
is exactly what every one well acquainted with him 
knew to be the case even before authentic accounts were 
received. Sincerely yours, 

“W. J. Gaynor, Mayor. 
“Vincent Astor, Esq., 23 West Twenty-sixth street, 

New York City.” 

Funds were collected in all the large towns through¬ 
out the country,, and contributions poured into the cities 
from out-of-town places. Many “benefits” were also 
held in the leading theaters in the cities, many theatrical 
stars contributing to the programs. 

George M. Cohan, the actor-manager, with the 




221 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

assistance of friends and fellow actors, raised $9,000 
for the Titanic sufferers. Of this amount Mr. Cohan 
gave individually $5,000. 

By arrangement with the New York American, a 
special edition of that newspaper headed the “George 
M. Cohan Special” was printed and Mr. Cohan paid 
$5,000 for the first copy. He sold copies at the Lambs, 
Friars,, White Rats, Comedy and Players Clubs and at 
the Polo Grounds. Blanche Ring paid $100 for a copy, 
Jerry Cohan, $100; Josephine Cohan, $100; William R. 
Hearst, $200, and Mrs. Hearst, $50. The total sales, 
exclusive of his own copy, amounted to $1,500. 

Saturday night at the Cohan Theater a special per¬ 
formance was given for the same purpose. The theater 
was crowded and about $2,500 realized. During the 
intermission more of the special papers were sold in the 
audience by Mr. Cohan and Frankie Bailey. The pro¬ 
gram was made up of stars from various theaters and 
vaudeville houses regardless of their syndicate and anti¬ 
syndicate affiliation. 

CHICAGO^ IMMEDIATE RESPONSE 

Although horror-stricken by the tragic details of the 
sinking of the Titanic , citizens of Chicago with the 
promptness which always has been characteristic of 
them in times of distress, arose to do their part in the 
nation-wide movement to provide relief for the suffer- 


222 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ing survivors, their families and the families of the dead, 
hundreds of whom are reported to be in want. 

The appeal of Mayor Harrison confronted every 
citizen of Chicago, high and low, and Chicago shared 
generously in the big relief fund. 

While leading and wealthy citizens of the city 
joined hands with the less fortunate in a common cause 
similar plans were rushed by all the churches of the city, 
various corporations, business houses and otherso 

THE LONDON FUND 

The various London relief funds for the assistance 
of sufferers by the Titanic disaster five days after the 
catastrophe amounted to more than $425,000. The 
fund at the Mansion House alone reached $325,000. 
The Gaekwar of Baroda contributed $2,500, and the 
Prince of Wales 250 guineas ($1,250). 

The Southampton fund amounted to $50,000. 

Within an hour after the opening of the relief fund 
in Belfast $30,000 had been subscribed, including 
$10,000 by Lord Pirrie and $5,000 by Harland & Wolff. 

When the newspapers published at great length the 
thrilling details of the evidence given before the sena¬ 
torial commission at Washington, the extraordinary 
flow of money to the relief fund was proof of the wide- 
felt sympathy. 

The total fund, including that in New York the 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


223 


week following the disaster, approached $1,500,000. 
Perhaps the most noteworthy was the Daily Mail fund, 
which was contributed exclusively by women, and 
amounted to $120,000. The lord mayor’s fund reached 
$545,000 and the Daily Telegraph's $87,775. 

The fund at Southampton amounted to $72,700, 
and that at Liverpool to $64,500. A large number 
of special performances were given at various music 
halls and theaters for the benefit of the sufferers. 

TEMPORARY HELP 

Very full of interest is the story of the relief given 
the survivors upon landing. 

The task that was shouldered by the Women’s 
Relief Committee of supplying some of the immediate 
needs of the Titanic's survivors took long forward 
strides Saturday, the day after the Carpathia came in, 
so that the corridors and wards of St. Vincent’s Hos¬ 
pital were astir with the distribution of warm clothes. 
Before nightfall many of the shipwrecked were moving 
on to their destinations. 

It was the idea of the committee of women, organ¬ 
ized on Tuesday evening by Mrs. Nelson H. Henry, 
wife of the Surveyor of the Port, that there should be 
hands extended to these people and particularly 
women’s hands w T hen the Carpathia came in, but the 
relief they offered was only for immediate needs, and 
the larger fund collected by Mayor Gaynor and others 


224 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


was for the work of more permanent benevolence for 
those who lost so much when the big ship sank. 

On Friday evening, it was announced that the com¬ 
mittee had received plenty for all the work chat it could 
do, but this had to be repeated, for the morning’s mail 
brought in a flood of contributions to the amount of 
more than $1,700. Four of the benefit performances 
offered were accepted, but the committee asked all 
others to extend the offers to the Red Cross as a con¬ 
tribution from the Women’s Relief Committee. 

The committee’s work in its rooms on the sixth floor 
of the Metropolitan Life Building was divided into two 
departments. One took care of the receiving and dis¬ 
tributing of clothes, and the other was devoted to the 
questions of immediate relief, of money, transportation, 
temporary homes, and arrangements for employment 
later. 

All this was rapidly reduced to a catalogue, so that 
when word came from St. Vincent’s or other hospitals 
and homes where survivors were taken, accompanied by 
the certificate of assent from the Commissioners of 
Immigration, the committee knew just what was 
wanted, just what size clothes, just where the people 
wanted to go, and just how much money was necessary. 
The committee offered help for the first four weeks 
after the shipwreck. Clothing, a railroad ticket, per- 






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WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


225 


haps, and a little money was bestowed in each case along 
with a deal of comforting. 

PROMINENT WOMEN WORKED HARD 

But all this was no simple undertaking, and the 
offices were jammed all the time. Women of promi¬ 
nence could be seen moving about from task to task. 
Miss Anne Morgan was always busy, Mrs. August 
Belmont and Mrs. Eugene Kelly helped with this case 
and that, Mrs. Edward Hewitt was a tower of strength, 
and Mrs. Henry Dimock was tireless as her bundles of 
clothing arrived, stack on stack, and her motor car 
carried her from one errand to another. 

Representatives from different houses that had 
opened their doors to survivors would appear with the 
names and conditions of those who were ready to move 
on. A priest from the Swedish Home was there to 
arrange for clothing and money for thirteen charges. A 
big man from the Salvation Army arrived with the list 
of those under his care. He had been down to arrange 
for the transportation of Mrs. Emily Goldsmith and her 
little son, who must move on to Detroit without the 
husband and father that sailed with them from South¬ 
ampton. 

There was one moment when the women paused to 
shake their heads sadly, for an application had come in 
for an outfit for a young girl who lost her brother in the 


226 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


wreck. And the man who brought the requisition asked 
that the dresses be not black for the girl would not give 
up hope. 

Of the 106 Titanic people who were taken to St. 
Vincent’s Hospital, fully forty resumed their journey 
Saturday. A dazed girl sailed back to Finland on 
Wednesday. Her brother, her uncle, and the man she 
was to marry were lost. A slender little Swedish woman 
hovered over her two babies, patting their hair and 
smoothing down the new dresses that came from the 
committee of women. She had one terrible moment 
when she started down the rope to the already lowered 
lifeboat and knew that she could carry only the smaller 
child. The three-year-old girl she could not carry, but 
the little girl clung terrified to the mother’s skirt and 
did not release the hold till all three were in the lifeboat. 



CHAPTER XXVI 


SOME PATHETIC FEATURES OF THE 
TRAGEDY 

So Many People Near Safety Just Missed It- 

Helpless Ones Left and Their Protectory 

Taken 

Pitiful tales were related by some of the steerage 
passengers of the Titanic as they came off the Cat 
pathia . Few of the passengers were met by relatives 
or friends and a majority were taken in charge by 
charitable persons. 

A pathetic incident of the steerage was the placing 
of seven children—four girls and three boys—into one 
of the lifeboats. Their parents were lost. Two of the 
little ones, whose names could not be ascertained, were 
taken to hospitals. One has scarlet fever and the other 
meningitis. 

some died in lifeboats 

H. Haven, of Indianapolis, said the Titanic was 
going at high speed when she struck and that the 
helmsman apparently had seen the danger and put the 
helm over, for the boat veered to port and struck the 

227 


228 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


iceberg a glancing blow. This ripped off a large sec¬ 
tion of the plates on the starboard side and the water 
began to pour in. 

“There was a great rush for the lifeboats as soon 
as it was known that there was any real danger,” he 
said. “So precipitate was this rush that many in 
apparent frenzy jumped over the ship’s railing into the 
sea. A remarkable thing was that the lights continued 
to burn, although the Titanic settled lower and lower. 

“When we were at some distance from the sinking 
ship and could still see the figures of hundreds of people 
on deck at 'ke railings there were several explosions in 
the ship. More people went overboard. Presently the 
Titanic buckled amidships, and we could see the people 
sliding off into the water, both fore and aft. Then the 
boat settled somewhat by the bow, the lights went out 
and that was the last we saw of the Titanic . 

“The temperature must have been below freezing, 
and neither the men nor the women in my boat were 
warmly clad. Several of them died. The officer in 
charge of the lifeboat decided it was better to bury the 
bodies. So they were weighted and put overboard. We 
could also see similar burials taking place from other 
lifeboats that were all around us. 

“Of course at that time we did not know the Car- 
patina was near. If we had these bodies would have 
been saved.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


229 


HUNDREDS DROWNED 

August Wennerstrom, a Swede, spied a collapsible 
boat behind one of the smokestacks as the vessel was 
sinking. With three other men he managed to tear it 
from its lashings and the four jumped overboard with 
it. The boat overturned four times, but each time they 
managed to right it and finally all of them were saved 
by the Carpathia. While drifting about, Wennerstrom 
said he saw at least 200 men in the water who were 
drowned. 

CREW OBLIGED TO JUMP 

The chief steward of the Carpathia explained the 
large number of the crew saved by saying that the 
majority of them had jumped from the Titanic and 
were picked up by the boats. 

SORROW INSTEAD OF SURPRISE 

This message was received from London two days 
after the Carpathia came in by James W. Van Billiard, 
of North Wales, Pa.: 

“Austin and two oldest children sailed on Titanic . 

Maude.” 

It is explained that Austin Van Billiard, son of 
James W. Van Billiard, Burgess of North Wales and 
a wealthy marble dealer, accompanied by his two eldest 
children, James, aged eleven, and Walter, aged nine, 
had sailed from Liverpool on the Titanic . 

It further explained to the Van Billiard family that 


230 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


it was their son whose name appeared in the list of steer¬ 
age passengers who went down, and not some one with 
a similar name as they had believed. 

MEN HUNG ON RAFTS 

One version of the deaths of John Jacob Astor and 
William T. Stead was told by Philip Mock, who with 
his^ sister, Mrs. Paul Schabert, were among the sur¬ 
vivors. 

“Many men were hanging on to the rafts in the sea,” 
said Mr. Mock. “William T. Stead, the author, and 
Col. John Jacob Astor clung to a raft. Their feet 
became frozen and they were compelled to release their 
held. Both were drowned.” 

ALL THAT IS LEFT 

In the children’s ward at St. Vincent’s was a little 
girl four years old who was brought off the sinking 
Titanic . Her name, she thought, w r as Annie Karens. 
She lisped it and wanted her father and mother. People 
kept telling the child that mamma might come after 
awhile and that papa might come, too. 

The wives and relatives and friends of the crew of 
the Titanic gathered in the early hours of the morning 
of the 19th at the White Star offices in Southampton, 
England, to wait for the list of those officers and men 
who had been saved. In some cases the posting of the 
list brought relief, but the majority went away with 
their worst fears confirmed. 


CHAPTER XXVII 

SOME FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES 


In the Midst of the Gloom of the Tragedy There 

Are Still Some Bright Spots—Better Himself 

Than His Wardrobe. 

Alfred von Drachstedt, a tall, blonde German youth 
of twenty years, who says that he has the right to pre¬ 
fix “baron” to his name, appeared Thursday night on 
the Carpathia attired in a sweater, a pair of trousers, 
and a life preserver and with only a few German marks 
in his pocket. He left on the Titanic 750 German marks 
and a wardrobe. 

It was an elaborate wardrobe that young Von Dracn- 
stedt left behind him, and he felt bad over its loss, though 
admitting that he was glad to have arrived himself. 

To begin with, it was a brand new wardrobe, and it 
cost, according to his itemized account, just $2,133, 
counting in the jewelry, walking sticks, two sets ot toilet 
articles, and a fountain pen that went with it. 

The young man lives in Cologne and his mother is 
a widow. It was his first trip from home. 


232 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


SAVED BY DOING HIS DUTY 

Rev. James M. Gray, dean of the Moody Bible 
Institute, probably owed his life to his conscientious 
desire to return to America in time to preach the bacca¬ 
laureate sermon to the graduating class of the institute. 
He was about to start for home when Rev. Dr. Harold 
urged him to remain and embark on the Titanic on her 
maiden voyage. He refused to do so on the plea that 
he must be in Chicago to preach to the graduates. He 
took another steamship a week earlier. 

A POST CARD PROPHECY 

A picture postal card, with the following jingle, 
bore tne first news to Rev. and Mrs. Mawbrey E. Col¬ 
lett, of Port Byron, New York, that their son, the Rev. 
Sidney C. Stuart Collett, had embarked on the ill-fated 
Titanic. The card, bearing a picture of the Titanic, 
said: 

Mother put the kettle on, let’s have a cup of tea 
Ready for the dear old “Sid,” who’s coming home from 
sea; 

You’ll be glad to see him, and kiss him with delight, 

So mother put the kettle on, I’m coming home all right. 

(Signed) Sid. 



* WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


238 


That was all the news of the young traveler that 
they had until they read his name among the list of 
survivors. 

TRIBUTE TO MARCONI 

Oscar Straus, brother of Xsidcr Straus, the great 
philanthropist who lost his life on the Titanic , paid a 
high tribute to the genius of Marconi and said that he 
hoped a monument may be erected to the inventor dur¬ 
ing his lifetime. 

“But for the genius of Marconi,” said Mr. Straus, 
“every soul on the Titanic would probably have been 
drowned and we would not have known what happened. 
To him the survivors owe their liyes, and no tribute we 
can pay would be too great. 

“What he has done to safeguard the lives of those 
who travel on the seas should not be underestimated, 
and his inventions have made him one of the great 
figures in the world today. X should like to see a monu¬ 
ment erected to him while he lives so that he may see 
that the world appreciates what he has done for 
humanity.” 

ESCAPED ON ICE 

A huge cake of ice was the means of aiding Emile 
Portaluppi, of Aricgabo, Italy, in escaping death when 
the Titanic went down. Portaluppi, a second-class pas¬ 
senger, was awakened by the explosion of one of the 




234 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 



boilers of the ship. He hurried to the deck, strapped a 
life preserver around him and leaped into the sea. 

With the aid of the preserver and by holding to a 
cake of ice he managed to keep afloat until one of the 
lifeboats picked him up. There were thirty-five other 
people in the boat when he was hauled aboard. 




—Detroit New*. 


Waiting 



















CHAPTER XXVIII 


VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW THE 
TITANIC DISAPPEARED 

Every Survivor Was Left Witi-i a Vivid Impres¬ 
sion of the Ship's Tragedy—End of Titanic 

Appalling. 

One of the most stirring accounts of the wreck and 
its after effects was told by William Smith, assistant 
manager for L. E. Waterman, 115 South Clark street, 
Chicago. 

With tears gushing from his eyes, though he tried 
to wink them away, Smith told of the thrilling experi¬ 
ences of Mrs. Harry Collyer of Bishopstoke, near 
Southampton, England, and her eight-year-old daugh¬ 
ter Marjorie. 

The Collyers numbered the husband, Harry Collyer, 
thirty years old; his wife and daughter. They had 
booked passage on the steamer New York, which was 
delayed because of the British coal strike, and they were 
transferred to the Titanic. 

Collyer, who perished on the Titanic , had purchased 
through tickets for the family to Payette, Idaho, where 
235 


236 


WRECK CF THE TITANIC 


he intended to buy a half-interest in a ten-acre apple 
orchard. The Collyers had sold their little grocery at 
Bishopstoke, and the husband had all his money and 
valuables sewed up in his clothes. 

WOMAN DESCRIBED DISASTER 

“Mrs. Collyer told me a terrible story of the disas¬ 
ter,” said Mr. Smith. “It was bad enough to meet her 
at the dock when the Carpathia came in. I would not 
suffer that experience again for $1,000. 

“When the Titanic struck the iceberg the Collyers 
were awakened from slumber in their berths and rushed 
to the deck, thinly clad. Some one called out that all 
the passengers should put on life preservers. Collyer 
rushed away to find three of them for his family and 
himself. 

“His wife never saw him again. She was thrown 
into a lifeboat with other women. Just before this she 
said she saw three lifeboats, one after another, over¬ 
turned with their human freight. It was this that fright¬ 
ened the women on board and made them reluctant to 
enter the boats. 

“The result was, Mrs. Collyer said, that women were 
torn from the arms of their loved ones and thrown bodily 
into the life craft. 

“Officers stood by with pistols to keep away the men 
from the steerage, who on at least one occasion 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


237 


attempted a rush. When occasion warranted the officers 
did not scruple to fire. One of the men from the steer¬ 
age jumped into one of the lifeboats. The officer in 
charge threw him out into the water to drown. 

“Mrs. Collyer thought that the disaster caught the 
crew of the Titanic unawares, as she said there was not 
a proper response when the call to the lifeboats was 
issued. 

“The end of the Titanic she described as appalling, 
as seen from the lifeboats through the starlit night. 
First one end of the steamer lifted, then the other; then, 
with a great wail from hundreds still on board, it sank. 

“For one hour, she averred the screams continued, 
right up to the time when the Titanic disappeared for¬ 
ever, and she said that this was the unforgettable impres¬ 
sion of the wreck for her. The lifeboats had all they 
could do to preserve their equilibrium and to prevent 
collision with the icebergs. 

“The Collyers are absolutely destitute, as the hus¬ 
band carried to the bottom with him all they had in the 
world.” 

NO SEARCHLIGHT 

Miss Constance Willard, of Duluth, Minn., who left 
the Titanic twenty minutes before the vessel sank, 
recounted an interesting experience. 

“One subject talked of after we were on board the 
Carpathian she said, “was the fact the Titanic had no 


238 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


searchlight. The crew said that it had been the inten¬ 
tion of the owners to equip the vessel with a searchlight 
after its arrival in New York. 

“When I reached the deck after the collision the 
crew were getting the boats ready to lower, and many 
of the women were running about looking for their hus¬ 
bands and children. The women were being placed in 
the boats, and two men took hold of me and almost 
pushed me into a boat. I did not appreciate the danger 
and I struggled until they released me. 

“ ‘Do not waste time; let her go if she will not get in/ 
an officer said. I hurried back to my cabin again and 
went from cabin to cabin looking for my friends, but 
could not find them. A little English girl about fifteen 
years old ran up to me and threw her arms about me. 

HURRIED ABOARD A BOAT 

“ ‘O, I am all alone/ she sobbed, ‘won’t you let me go 
with you?’ I then began to realize the real danger and 
saw that all but two of the boats had been lowered. 
Some men called to us and we hurried to where they 
were loading a boat. All the women had been provided 
with life belts. As the men lifted us into the boat they 
smiled at us and told us to be brave. The night was 
cold and the men who were standing about, especially 
the steerage passengers, looked chilled, but the men 
who were helping the women into the boats seemed dif- 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


239 


ferent. Even while they smiled at us great beads of 
perspiration stood out on their foreheads. 

BEGGED HEit TO TAKE CHILD 

“I never will forget an incident that occurred just 
as we were about to be lowered into the water. I had 
just been lifted into the boat and was still standing, 
when a foreigner rushed up to the side of the vessel and 
holding out a bundle in his arms cried with tears run¬ 
ning down his face: 

“O, please, kind lady, won’t you save my little girl, 
my baby. For myself it is no difference, but please, 
please take the little one.’ Of course, I took the child. 
Most women were compelled to stand in the boats 
because they all wore the lifebelts, which made it almost 
impossible to sit down. 

“In our boat there were seven men, about twenty 
women, and several children. The night was dark. 
Twenty minutes after leaving the Titanic we heard an 
explosion and the vessel appeared to split in two and 
sank. Then a foreign woman in our boat began singing 
a hymn, and we all joined, although few knew the words. 
All around us we heard crying and sobbing for perhaps 
three minutes. 

NO IDEA BOAT WOULD SINK 

John B. Thayer, Jr., whose father, the second vice- 
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, went 


240 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


down with the Titanic , while his mother was saved, dic¬ 
tated at his home in Haverford, in the presence of mem¬ 
bers of his family and officers of the railroad company, 
an account of his thrilling experience in the great sea 
tragedy. Young Thayer, who is seventeen years old, 
said in part: 

“Father was in bed and mother and myself were 
about to get into bed. There was no great shock. I 
put on an overcoat and rushed up on ‘A’ deck on the 
port side, but saw nothing there. I then went down to 
our room and my father and mother came on deck with 
me. The ship had then a fair list to port. 

DESCRIBED FAREWELL TO MOTHER 

“We then went down to our rooms, all dressing 
quickly. We all put on life preservers, and over these 
we put our overcoats. Then we hurried up on deck 
and walked around until the women w'ere all ordered to 
collect on the port side. Father and I said good-by to 
mother at the top of the stairs on ‘A 5 deck. 

“As at this time we had no idea the boat w T ould sink, 
we walked around. We met the chief steward of the 
main dining saloon and he told us that mother had not 
yet taken a boat, and he took us to her. 

“Father and mother went ahead, and I followed. 
A crowd got in front of me and I was not able to catch 
them and lost sight of them. That is the last time I 



Photo Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

ALL EYES ON THE RESCUE SHIP 

Survivors of the Titanic in one of her collapsible lifeboats, just before being picked up by the 

Carp&thia—Women may be seen at the oars 




















STEAMSHIP TITANIC 





















WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


241 


saw my father. This was about half an hour before 
the ship sank. I then went to the starboard side with 
Milton C. Long, of New York. 

“On the starboard side the boats were getting away 
quickly. We thought of getting into one of the boats, 
but there seemed to be such a crowd around I thought 
it wouldn’t do to make any attempt. 

JUMPED INTO OCEAN; FOUND BOAT 

“About this time people began jumping from the 
stern. I thought of jumping myself, but was afraid of 
being stunned on hitting the water. As the boat started 
to sink we stood by the rail. Long and myself said 
good-by to each other and jumped up on the rail. He 
did not jump clear, but slid down the side of the ship. 
I never saw him again. 

“I jumped out feet first, went down, and as I came 
up I was pushed away from the ship by some force. 

“I was sucked down again and as I came up I was 
pushed out again and twisted around by a large wave 
coming up in the midst of a great deal of small wreck¬ 
age. My hand touched the cork fender of an over¬ 
turned lifeboat. I looked up and saw some men on the 
top. One of them helped me up. In a short time the 
bottom was covered with about twenty-five or thirty 


men. 


242 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


RESCUE BOAT ARRIVED 

“The assistant wireless operator was right next to 
me, holding on to me and kneeling in the water. We 
all sang a hymn and said the Lord’s prayer, and then 
waited for morning to come. The wireless man raised 
our hopes by telling us that the Carpathia w^ould be up 
in about three hours. About 3:30 or 4 o’clock some 
men on our boat on the bow r sighted its mast lights. 

“Two boats from the Carpathia came up. The first 
took half and the other took the balance, including 
myself. In about a half or three-quarters of an hour 
later we were picked up by the Carpathia ” 









CHAPTER XXIX 


XL S. SENATORS OBTAIN FACTS OF WRECK 

Speed of Ship Not Lessened on Warning—Wit¬ 
nesses Also Showed Lack of Small Boats Cost 
Many Lives—Ismay Described Wreck—Denied 
He Fled Before Women Had Cliance to Leave 
the Vessel—Described Rescue Efforts. 

The seriousness of the inquiry by the United States 
Senate investigating committee into the Titanic disaster 
was disclosed when Senator William Alden Smith of 
Michigan, the chairman, at first flatly refused to let any 
of the officers or the 200-odd members of the crew of the 
sunken steamship get beyond the jurisdiction of the 
United States government. The men were all to have 
sailed back home on the steamer Lapland . 

Later it was decided that the greater part of the crew 
would be permitted to sail, but that the twelve men and 
four officers among the survivors under subpoena, to¬ 
gether with J. Bruce Ismay, would not be allowed to 
depart. 

It was explained that Mr. Ismay was anxious to 
leave at once for Europe, as he had been worn out by his 
experiences, and felt the need of returning quickly to 
243 


244 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


his English home for a rest. His pleas, however, were 
unavailing. 

MEN WHO TESTIFIED. 

The first day brought out important features in con¬ 
nection with the wreck. These were disclosed in the 
examination of Mr. Ismay, Arthur Henry Rostron, 
captain of the rescue ship Car patina, and Second Officer 
Lightoller of the Titanic, William Marconi, inventor of 
the wireless telegraph; Thomas Cottam, the wireless 
operator of the Carpathia, and others. 

Among other things, the first day’s testimony 
showed: 

That the biggest ship ever built sank in midocean 
because it was being rushed forward almost at top speed 
and crashed into a field of icebergs after warnings had 
been given to look out. 

That the small number of lives saved was due to the 
fact there were not enough lifeboats on board to accom¬ 
modate the passengers. 

ISMAY DESCRIBED THE WRECK. 

Because of his position as managing director of the 
White Star Line the testimony of Mr. Ismay was the 
most important given. 

Mr. Ismay, w r ho plainly showed his nervousness while 
on the stand, told in whispers of his escape from the 
sinking liner from the time he pushed away in a boat 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


245 



Time to Get Busy 


— SI. Louis Republic. 




































246 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


with the women until he found himself, clad in his 
pajamas, aboard the Carpathia. 

He was not sure in just what boat he left the Titanic , 
nor was he sure how long he remained on the liner after 
it struck. He added, however, that before he entered a 
lifeboat he had been told that there were no more women 
on the deck. 

Mr. Ismay denied that there had been any censoring 
of messages from the Carpathia . O^her witnesses, 
including Captain Rostron of the Carpathia, bore him 
out in this, with the explanation that the lone wireless 
operator on the rescue ship, swamped with personal 
messages, was unable to send matter for the press. 

TEXT OF ISMAY TESTIMONY. 

Mr. Ismay, in response to Senator Smith’s question¬ 
ings gave an account of his experiences.—“As near as I 
remember, it w r as the 1st of April that the Titanic made 
its trial trip, which was perfectly satisfactory. On the 
voyage over, we left Southampton at 12 o’clock and 
arrived at Cherbourg that evening, having made the run 
at sixty-eight revolutions. We left Cherbourg and pro¬ 
ceeded to Queenstown, arriving there, I think, at midday 
on Thursday. We ranged, I think, about seventy 
revolutions. We embarked passengers and proceeded 
at seventy revolutions. I am not absolutely clear on the 
run on the first day. I think it was between 464 and 474 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


247 


miles. The second day we proceeded at seventy-two 
revolutions, the third day at seventy-five. I think that 
day we ran either 576 or 579 miles. The w r eather con¬ 
tinued fine, except for about ten minutes of fog one 
evening. The accident took place on Sunday night. 
The exact time I don’t know. I was in bed asleep when 
it happened. The ship sank, I am told, at 2:20 in the 
morning. The ship had never been at full speed. That 
would have been seventy-eight revolutions, working up 
to eighty. It hadn’t all its boilers on. I may say that 
it was intended, if we had fair weather Monday after¬ 
noon or Tuesday, to drive the steamship at full speed. 
Unfortunately the catastrophe prevented this. 

“I presume the impact awakened me. I lay for a 
minute or two and then I got up and went into the pas¬ 
sageway, where I met a steward and asked him what 
was the matter. He replied, T don’t know, sir.’ Then 
I went back to my stateroom, put on my overcoat and 
went up to the bridge, where I saw Captain Smith. 
‘What has happened?’ I asked him. ‘We have struck 
ice,’ he replied. I asked if the injury was serious, and 
he said he thought so. Then I came down and in an 
entryway saw the chief engineer. I asked him if he 
thought there was any serious injury. He said he 
believed there was. Walking along the deck I met an 
officer on the starboard side and assisted him as best I 
could in getting out the women and children. I stayed 


248 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


up on deck until the starboard collapsible boat was 
lowered.” Mr. Ismay stated that an official representa¬ 
tive of the builders, Mr. Thomas Andrews, was on board 
to see that everything was satisfactory and wherein 
improvements might be made, but he was lost. 

“Did you or the captain ever consult about the move¬ 
ment of the ship?” 

“Fever.” 

SLOW INCREASE IN SPEED. 

“Was it supposed that you could reach Few York 
by 5 o’clock Wednesday morning without putting the 
steamship to its full capacity?” 

“Oh, yes. Nothing was to be gained by arriving 
sooner than that.” 

Mr. Ismay testified that the revolutions were being 
gradual^ increased, as was customary with a new ship. 
The speed on Saturday was 75 revolutions, but that was 
nothing to full speed. Mr. Ismay did not know ice 
had been reported, and had never seen an iceberg. He 
expected that some time Sunday night they would come 
into the ice region. 

“Did you have any consultation with the captain 
regarding the matter?” 

“Absolutely none. It was entirely out of my prov¬ 
ince. I was simply a passenger aboard the ship.” 

“On which decks were the boats?” 


249 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

The lifeboats were all on one deck—the sun deck/ 9 
Mr. Ismay said. 

FOUR MEN IN HIS BOAT. 

They were filled, a crew put in, and they were sent 
away. There were four men aboard the boat on which 
Mr. Ismay escaped. 

WOMEN SENT AWAY FIRST. 

Mr. Ismay could not say that all the women and 
children had been taken off. In his boat there were 
about 45 people, which he thought was its capacity. 
Three other boats he saw were loaded about the same. 
There was no struggle by men to get into the boats 
and the women were taken just as they came. Mr. 
Ismay said he was on the Titanic practically until it 
sank, perhaps an hour and a quarter. 

“What were the circumstances of your departure 
from the ship?” asked Senator Smith. 

“I was immediately opposite the lifeboat. A certain 
number of people were in it. An officer called to know 
if there were any more women. There were no women 
in sight on the deck then. There were no passengers 
about and I got in.” 

Nearly all the passengers Mr. Ismay saw had on 
life preservers. He did not see anyone jump into the 
sea. They steered their lifeboats toward a distant light 
and spent about four hours in the open sea. 


25G 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“How many lifeboats were there? 5 ’ 

“Twenty altogether, I think; sixteen of them 
wooden lifeboats, hut I am not absolutely certain.” 

Mr. Ismay said the sea was very calm, a ripple on, 
nothing more. 

“What can you say about the sinking and disappear¬ 
ance of the ship?” asked Senator Smith. 

“Nothing; I did not see it go down.” 

“I was sitting with my hack to the ship; I did not 
wish to see it go. I was pushing with an oar. I am 
glad I did not see it.” 

CONFORMED TO BOARD RULES. 

Mr. Ismay said the Titanic conformed to the British 
Board of Trade’s requirements, else it could not have 
sailed. The lifeboats were the Titcmic’s own and not 
borrowed from any other ship of the White Star line. 
Mr. Ismay had nothing to do with the selection of the 
men in his own lifeboat; they were designated by Mr. 
Wild, the chief officer. 

SAFER THAN OTHER SHIPS. 

Senator Smith wished to know how much water 
the ship could hold without sinking. 

“The ship was especially constructed so as to float 
with any two compartments—any two of the biggest 
compartments—full of water, and I think I am right 



251 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

in saying there are few ships today of which the same 
can he said'. When we built the ship we had this in 
mind. If the ship had hit the ice head on, in all human 
probability that ship would have been afloat today, but 
the information I received is that it struck a glancing 
blow between the end of the forecastle and the captain’s 
bridge.” 

Mr. Ismay feared all the women and children were 
not saved. He could say nothing of equipment and 
so on, except that the Board of Trade rules had been 
complied with in every way and that all data and in¬ 
formation was at the committee’s disposal. Pie had 
made no attempt to interfere with the wireless service 
in any way. 

TESTIMONY OF CAPTAIN HOSTEON. 

Capt. Rostron of the Carpathia followed Mr. 
Ismay. He told Mr. Smith that he had bt.n captain 
of the Carpathia since last January, but that he had 
been a seaman twenty-seven years. 

“What day did you last sail from New York with 
the Carpathia?” asked Senator Smith. 

“April 11,” said Capt. Rostron, “bound for 
Gibraltar.” 

“How many passengers did you have?” 

“I think 120 first-class, 50 second-class, and about 
565 third-class passengers.” 


252 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“Tell the committee all that happened after you left 
New York.” 

“We backed out of the dock at noon, Thursday. 
Up to Sunday midnight we had fine, clear weather. 
At 12:35 Monday morning I was informed of the 
urgent distress signal from the Titanic ” 

“By whom?” 

“The wireless operator and first officer. The mes¬ 
sage was that the Titanic was in immediate danger. I 
gave the order to turn the ship around as soon as the 
Titanic had given its position. I set a course to pick 
up the Titanic , which was fifty-eight miles west of my 
position. I sent for the chief engineer; told him to put 
on another watch of stokers and make all speed for the 
Titanic 0 I told the first officer to stop all deck work, 
get out the lifeboats, and be ready for any emergency. 
The chief steward and doctors of the Carpathia I called 
to my office and instructed as to their duties. They 
were instructed to be ready with all supplies necessary 
for any emergency.” 

HOW SURVIVORS WERE FOUND. 

Arriving on the scene of the accident, Capt. Rostron 
testified, he saw an iceberg straight ahead of him, and, 
stopping at 4 a. m., he picked up the first lifeboat. 

“By the time I got the boat aboard day was break¬ 
ing,” said the captain. “In a radius of four miles I 



253 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

saw all the other lifeboats. On all sides of us were ice¬ 
bergs; some twenty were 150 to'200 feet high, and 
numerous small icebergs, or ‘growlers.’ Wreckage was 
stiewn about us. At 8:30 all the Titanic*s survivors 
were aboard.” 

THE SERVICE OE PRAYER 

Then, with tears filling his eyes, Caj)t. Rostron said 
he called the purser. 

“I told him,” said Capt. Rostron, “I wanted to hold 
a service of prayer—thanksgiving for the living and a 
funeral service for the dead. I went to Mr. Ismay. 
He told me to take full charge. An Episcopal clergy¬ 
man was found among the passengers and he conducted 
the services.” 

Three members of the Titanic’s crew were taken 
from the lifeboats, dead from exposure. They were 
buried at sea. 

Asked about the lifeboats, Capt. Rostron said he 
found one among the wreckage in the sea. The lifeboats 
on the Titanic , Capt Rostron said, were all new and in 
accordance with the British regulations. 

“Was the Titanic on the right course when it first 
spoke to you?” Senator Smith asked. 

“Absolutely on its regular course bound for New 
York,” said the captain. “It was in what we call the 
southerly to avoid icebergs.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 






254 


SILKNT AS TO WARNING. 

Capt. Rostron declined to say if Capt. Smith had 
warning enough and might have avoided the ice if he 
had heeded. 

“Would you regard the course taken by the Titanic 
in this trial trip as appropriate, safe and wise at this 
time of the year?” Senator Smith asked. 

“Quite so.” 

“What would be safe, reasonable speed for a ship 
of that size and in that course?” 

“I didn’t know the ship,” the captain said, “and 
therefore cannot tell. I had seen no ice before the 
Titanic signaled us, but I knew from its message that 
there was ice to be encountered. But the Carpathia 
went full speed ahead. I had extra officers on watch 
and some others volunteered to watch ahead throughout 
the trip.” 

CARPATHIA HAD TWENTY LIFEBOATS. 


Capt. Rostron said the Carpathia had twenty life¬ 
boats of its own, in accordance with the British regula¬ 
tions. 

“Wouldn’t that indicate that the regulations are out 
of date, your ship being much smaller than the Titanic , 
which also carried twenty lifeboats?” Senator Smith 
asked. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


2 55 


“No. The Titanic was supposed to be a lifeboat 
itself.” 

“You say that the captain of a ship has absolute 
control over the movements of his vessel?” 

“Yes, by law that is the rule,” Capt. Rostron an¬ 
swered. “But suppose we get orders from the owners 
of our ship to do a certain thing. If we do not execute 
that order we are liable to dismissal. When I turned 
back for New York with the rescued I sent a message 
to the Cunard line office stating that I was proceeding 
to New York unless otherwise ordered. I then imme¬ 
diately proceeded. I received no order to change my 
course.” 

Senator Smith said some complaint had been heard 
that the Carpatliia had not answered President Taft’s 
inquiry for Maj. Butt. Capt. Rostron declared a reply 
was sent “not on board.” 

CAUGHT APPEAL BY CHANCE. 

Absolutely no censorship was exercised, he said. The 
wireless continued working all the way in, the Marconi 
operator being constantly at the key. 

In discussing the strength of the Carpatliia s wire¬ 
less, Capt. Rostron said the Carpatliia was only fifty- 
eight miles from the Titanic when the call for help came. 

“Our wireless operator was not on duty,” said Capt. 
Rostron, “but as he was undressing he had his apparatus 


256 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


to his ear. Ten minutes later he would have been in 
bed and we never would have heard.” 

MARCONI ON THE STAND. 

William Marconi, the wireless inventor, took the 
stand as soon as the hearing was resumed. He said he 
was the chairman of the British Marconi Company. 
Under instructions of the company, he said, operators 
must take their orders from the captain of the ship on 
which they are employed. 

“Do the regulations prescribe whether one or two 
operators should be aboard the ocean vessels?” 

“Yes, on ships like the Titanic and Olympic , two 
are carried,” said Mr. Marconi. “The Carpathia, a 
smaller boat, carries one. The Carpathia wireless ap¬ 
paratus is a short distance equipment. The maximum 
efficiency of the Carpathia wireless, I should say, was 
200 miles. The wireless equipment on the Titanic was 
available 500 miles during the daytime and 1,000 miles 
at night.” 

“Do you consider that the Titanic was equipped 
with the latest improved wireless apparatus?” 

“Yes; I should say that it had the best.” 

Senator Smith asked if amateur or rival concerns 
interfered with the wireless communication of the Car¬ 
pathia. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


257 


INTERFERENCE BY OUTSIDERS. 

“I am unable to say. Near New York I have an 
impression there was some slight interference, but when 
the Carpaihia was farther out in touch with New York 
aiid Nova Scotia there was practically no interference.” 

“Did you hear the captain of the Carpaihia say in 
his testimony that they caught this distress message 
from the Titanic almost providentially?” asked Senator 
Smith. 

“Yes, I did. It was absolutely providential.” 

“Ought it not to be incumbent upon ships to have 
an operator always at the key?” 

“Yes, but the ship owners do not like to carry two 
operators when they can get along with one. The 
smaller boat owners do not like the expense of two 
operators.” 

TESTIMONY OF SECOND OFFICER. 

Charles Herbert Lightoller, second officer of the 
Titanic , said he understood the maximum speed of 
the Titanic , as shown by its trial tests, to have been 
22y 2 to 23 knots. 

Senator Smith asked if the rule requiring life saving 
apparatus to be in each room for each passenger was 
complied with. 

“Everything was complete,” said Lightoller. Dur¬ 
ing the tests, he said, Capt. Clark of the British Board 






258 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

of Trade was aboard the Titanic to inspect its life 
saving equipment. 

“How thorough are these captains of the Board of 
Trade in inspecting ships ?” asked Senator Smith. 

“Capt. Clark is so thorough that we called him a 
nuisance.” 

Lightoller said he was in the sea with a life belt on 
one hour and a half after the Titanic sank. When it 
sank he was in the officers’ quarters and all but one of 
the life boats were gone. This one was caught in the 
tackle and they were trying to free it. 

HAD WARNING OF ICEBERGS. 

Lightoller said that on Sunday he saw a message 
from “some ship” about an iceberg ahead. He did not 
know the Amerika sent the message, he testified. 

The ship was making about 21 to 21 y 2 knots, the 
weather was clear and fair, and no anxiety about ice 
was felt, so no extra lookouts were put on. 

“When Capt. Smith came on the bridge at five min¬ 
utes of 9, what was said?” 

“We talked together generally for twenty or twenty- 
five minutes about when we might expect to get to the 
ice fields. He left the bridge, I think, about twenty- 
five minutes after 9 o’clock, and during our talk he 
told me to keep the ship on its course, but that if I was 
the slightest degree doubtful as conditions developed 
to let him know at once.” 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


259 


“What time did you leave the bridge?” 

“I turned over the watch to First Officer Murdock 
at 10 o’clock. We talked about the ice that we had 
heard was afloat, and I remember we agreed we should 
reach the reported longitude of the ice floes about 11 
o’clock, an hour later. At that time the weather was 
calm and clear. I remember we talked about the dis¬ 
tance we could see. We could see stars in the horizon. 
It was very clear.” 

Lightoller testified that the Titanic's decks were ab¬ 
solutely intact when it went down. The last order he 
heard the captain give was to lower the boats. 

The last boat, a flat collapsible, to put off was the 
one on top the officers’ quarters. Men jumped upon it 
on deck and waited for the water to float it off. Once 
at sea it upset. The forward funnel fell into the water* 
just missing the raft, and overturning it. The funnel 
probably killed persons in the water. 

“This was the boat I eventually got on. No one 
was on it when I reached it. Later about thirty men 
clambered out of the water on to it. All had on life 
preservers.” 

“Did any passengers get on?” asked Senator Smith. 

“J. B. Thayer, Col. Gracie and the second Marconi 
operator were among them. All the rest taken out 
of the water were firemen. Two of these died that night 
and slipped off into the water. I think the senior Mar- 


260 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ccni operator was one of the three. We took on board 
all we could and there were no others in the water near 
at hand. 

When Lightoller left he saw no women or children 
on board, though there were a number of passengers on 
the boat deck. The passengers were selected to fill the 
boats by sex, Lightoller himself putting on all the 
women he saw, except the stewardesses. He saw some 
women refuse to go. 

TW'ENTY-FIYE IN FIRST BOAT. 

In the first boat to be put off Lightoller said he put 
twenty to twenty-five. Two seamen were placed in it. 
The officer said he could spare no more, and that the fact 
that women rowed did not show the boat was not fully 
equipped. 

At that time he did not believe the danger was great. 
Two seamen placed in the boat, he said, were selected 
by him, but he could not recall who they were. He said 
he named them because they were standing near. The 
second boat carried thirty passengers, with two men. 

“By the time I came to the third boat I began to 
realize that the situation was serious, and I began to 
take chances. I filled it up as full as I dared, sir—about 
thirty-five, I think.” 

RAN SHORT OF SEAMEN. 

In loading the fourth lifeboat, Lightoller said he 
was running short of seamen. 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


261 


“I put two seamen in and one jumped out. That 
was the first boat I had to put a man passenger in. He 
was standing nearby and said he would go if I needed 

him. 

“I said, ‘Are you a sailor?’ and he replied that he 
was a yachtsman. Then I told him that if he was sailor 
enough to get out over the bulwarks to the lifeboat, to 
go ahead. He did, and proved himself afterward to 
be a brave man. I didn’t know him then, but afterward 
I looked him up. He was Maj. Peuchen of Toronto.” 

Of the fifth boat Lightoller had no particular recol¬ 
lection. 

“The last boat I put out, my sixth boat,” he said, 
“we had difficulty finding women. I called for women 
and none were on deck. The men began to get in— 
and then women appeared. As rapidly as they did, 
the men passengers got out of the boat again.” 

“The boat’s deck was only ten feet from the water 
when I lowered the sixth boat. When we lowered the 
first the distance to the water was seventy feet.” 

All told, Lightoller testified, 210 members of the 
crew were saved. 

“If the same course was pursued on the starboard 
side as you pursued on the port in filling boats, how do 
you account for so many members of the crew being 
saved?” asked Chairman Smith. 

“I have inquired especially and have found that for 


262 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

every six persons picked up five were either firemen or 
stewards.” 

Some lifeboats, the witness said, went back after the 
Titanic sank and picked up men from the sea. 

Lightoller said he stood on top of the officers’ quar¬ 
ters and as the ship dived he faced forward and 
dived also. 

“I was sucked against a blower and held there. A 
terrific gust came up the blower—the boilers must have 
exploded—and I was blown clear—barely clear. I was 
sucked down again, this time on the ‘Fidley’ grating.” 

Col. Gracie’s experience was similar. Lightoller 
did not know how he got loose, perhaps another explo¬ 
sion. He came up by a boat, on which tie ciamoered. 

TESTIMONY BY RELIEF MAN 

Thomas Cottam, aged 21, of Liverpool, the Marconi 
operator on the Carpathia was the next witness. 

He said he had no regular hours for labor on the 
Carpathia . Previous witnesses had testified he was not 
“on duty” when he received the Titanic's signal for help. 
He was uncertain whether he was required to work at 
night. He had not closed his station for the night, 
which is accomplished by switching the storage battery 
out. He was listening for a confirmation message from 
the Parisian J while he was preparing to retire, and 
caught the Titanic's distress signal by chance. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


263 


“When you got the distress message from the 
Titanic Sunday night, how did you get it?” 

“I called the Titanic myself, sir.” 

“Who told you to call the Titanic?” 

“No one, sir; I did it of my own free will.” 

“What was the answer?” 

“ ‘Come at once, 5 was the message, sir.” 

“I was in communication with the Titanic at regular 
intervals until the final message,” said Cottam. “This 
was ‘Come quick; our engine room is filling up to the 
boilers.’ ” 

Cottam said that after the Titanic's survivors were 
picked up he worked practically continuously until 
Tuesday, when he fell asleep at his post. He could not 
tell when he dropped from exhaustion nor when he 
awoke. 


- - — 


264 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 



■—Neio York World 







Wireless Anarchy 






















CHAPTER XXX 


INVESTIGATION CONTINUED 

Blunders in Wireless Messages Contributed to 
Great Loss of Life 

Testimony given before the Senate committee 
showed that blunders in wireless service had much to 
do with the great loss of life. 

Harold S. Bride, who was relief operator on the 
Titanic, said that when Chief Operator Phillips sent 
out the call for help the first answer came from the 
Frankfurt of the North German Lloyd line. The 
operator on the Frankfurt apparently considered the 
call trivial, for half an hour after receiving the impera¬ 
tive appeal he called the Titanic to inquire specifically 
just what was wrong. 

“Mr. Phillips said he was a fool,” Bride testified, 
“and told him to keep out, but did not tell him the 
Titanic was sinking. 

No effort was made to re-establish communication 
with the Frankfurt , although Phillips felt certain the 
vessel was much nearer than the Carpathia, with which 
communication had been established. 

265 


266 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


BRIDE IGNORED CALIFORNIAN’S CALL 

Another phase of the laxity of the wireless service 
was developed when Chairman Smith drew from the 
witness an acknowledgment that Sunday evening Bride 
was sitting, the telephonic apparatus strapped to his 
ears, adjusting his accounts, while the steamship Cali¬ 
fornian, seeking to warn the Titanic that icebergs were 
invading the lanes of ocean travel, called incessantly* 

Bride said he heard the call, but did not answer be* 
cause he was “busy.” 

It was not until a half hour later that the Califor¬ 
nian, striving to reach the steamship Baltic, reached also 
the Titanic, whereupon the warning that three great 
icebergs had been sighted w T as noted by Bride and 
verbally communicated to the Titanic's captain. 

MARCONI CRITICISED OPERATOR 

Senator Smith established by William Marconi that 
the Titanic and the Frankfurt operated virtually the 
same type of instruments. 

Marconi also criticised the operator on the Frankfurt 
for neglecting to act immediately after he received the 
first call for help. It was the duty of the wireless 
operator, he said, to tell his captain of the distress signal 
so that that ship might have rushed to the rescue. 

Both Bride and Thomas Cottam, wireless operators 
on the Carpathia, were mere boys, neither being over 23 
years oM 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


267 


Neither had any telegraphic experience previous to 
taking up wireless telegraphy and both while on the 
stand told tales of long hours at low wages and days 
and nights spent without sleep. 

This inexperience and the mental condition of the 
young operators were the two points on which Senator 
Smith bore persistently. He had put Cottam through 
a gruelling examination, in which the youth testified that 
he had not slept more than eight or ten hours between 
Sunday night, when the Titanic called for help, and 
Thursday night, when the vessel docked. Bride’s story 
bore out virtually all that Cottam’s had established. 

TESTIMONY OF OPERATOR BRIDE 

“What practical experience have you had?” asked 
Senator Smith. 

“I have crossed to the States three times and to Brazil 
twice,” said Bride. 

Bride remembered receiving and sending messages 
relative to the speed of the Titanic on its trial tests. 
After leaving Southampton on the Titanic's fatal trip 
he could not remember receiving or sending any mes¬ 
sages for Ismay. Senator Smith asked particularly 
about messages on Sunday. 

“I don’t remember, sir,” said Bride. “There was so 
much business Sunday.” 

He was asked if Captain Smith received or sent any 
messages Sunday. 


268 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“No, sir,” was the reply. 

After testifying he made no permanent record of the 
iceberg warnings, Bride insisted he gave the memoran¬ 
dum of the warning to the officer on the watch. The 
name of the officer he could not tell. He did not inform 
Captain Smith. 

NOTIFIED OF THREE ICEBERGS 

Later the witness told of having intercepted a mes¬ 
sage from the Californian intended for the Baltic, which 
told of the presence of three great icebergs in the vicinity 
of the former vessel. 

“I gave the message to the captain personally,” he 
said. 

MARCONI EXPLAINS “c. Q. D.” 

In an effort to determine whether the signal “C. Q. 
D.” might not have been misunderstood by passing ships 
Senator Smith called upon Mr. Marconi. 

“The ‘C. Q.’,” said Mr. Marconi, “is an international 
signal which meant that all stations should cease sending 
except the one using the call. The ‘D.’ was added to 
indicate danger. The call, however, now has been super¬ 
seded by the universal call ‘S. O. S. ? ” 

Senator Smith then resumed the direct examination 
of Bride, who had said the North German Lloyd was the 
first to answer the Titanic's distress signal. 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


269 


“Have you heard it said that the Frankfurt was the 
ship nearest to the TitanicV s the senator asked. 

“Yes, sir; Mr. Phillips told me that.” 

“How did he know?” 

“By the strength of the signals,” said the witness, 
who added that the Carpathia answered shortly after. 

In answer to further questions, Operator Bride said: 

“We did not feel the shock when the ship struck. In 
fact, I was asleep and was not even awakened by the 
impact. When the engines stopped, Mr. Phillips called 
me and I put on the telephone apparatus while he went 
out to see what was the trouble. A little later he came 
back. He said things looked ‘queer.’ By ‘queer’ I sup¬ 
pose he meant that everything was not as it should be. 

“When I heard the confusion on deck I went out to 
investigate, and when I returned I found Mr. Phillips 
sending out a ‘C. Q. D.’ call giving our position. We 
raised the Frankfurt first, and then the Carpathia and 
the Baltic . As I have said, we did not try for the Frank¬ 
furt for any length of time, but concentrated our mes¬ 
sages on the Carpathia, which had answered that it was 
rushing to our aid. 

“The captain came into the wireless cabin when the 
Carpathia advised us of its position and figured out the 
time when that vessel probably would arrive. He left 
when that was disposed of, and proceeded to the bridge. 


270 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Then we began unofficially to keep in communication 
with the Carpathian 

“From time to time either Mr. Phillips or I would 
go on deck to observe the situation. The last time I went 
I found the passengers running around in confusion 
and there was almost a panic. They were seeking life 
belts. All of the large lifeboats were gone, but there 
was one life raft remaining. It had been lashed on the 
top of the quarters on the boat deck. A number of men 
were striving to launch it. 

PREPARED FOR SHIP’S SINKING 

“I went back to the wireless cabin then. Mr. 
Phillips was striving to send out a final ‘C. Q. D.’ call. 
The power was so low that we could not tell exactly 
whether it was being carried or not, for we were in a 
closed cabin and we could not hear the crackle of the 
wireless at the mast. Phillips kept on sending, however, 
while I buckled on his life belt and put on my own. 
Then we both cared for a woman who had fainted and 
who had been brought into our cabin. 

“Then, about ten minutes before the ship sank, 
Captain Smith gave word for every one to look to his 
own safety. I sprang to aid the men struggling to 
launch the life raft, and we had succeeded in getting it 
to the edge of the boat when a giant wave carried it 
away. I went with it and found mys&tf underneath.. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


271 


Struggling through an eternity, I finally emerged and 
was swimming 150 feet from the Titanic when it went 
down. I felt no suction as the vessel plunged. 

“Captain Smith stuck to the bridge, and, turning, I 
saw him jump just as the vessel glided into the depths. 
He had not donned a life belt, so far as I could see, and 
,ent down with the ship.” 



—Detroit Wew 

Everything for Enjoying Life, But Not Much to Save It 







CHAPTER XXXI 


THE INVESTIGATION IN WASHINGTON 

Help Near at Hand, Ignored Distress Call and 
Ismay^s Attempts to Get Back to England 
Shown 

In the Senate investigating committee, April 22, 
Fourth Officer Boxall made a startling revelation in 
regard to a ship close at hand at the time of the wreck 
which ignored all the Titanic's signals. Also, in 
response to Senator Smith’s questions he gave some 
evidence about the lifeboats. Boxall said they had 
had a lifeboat drill before sailing in the presence of 
inspectors from the board of trade, in which only two 
boats on the same side of the ship were lowered. He 
declared that under the weather conditions at the time 
of the collision, the lifeboats were supposed to carry 
sixty-five persons. He said, too, that in accordance with 
the British board of trade regulations, the boats con¬ 
tained water breakers, water dippers, bread, bailers, 
masts, sails, lights and supplies of oil when the Titanic 
left Belfast, though he did not know if these things were 
in when the ship left Southampton. 

272 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


273 


LAUDED HABITS OF OFFICERS 

Boxhall testified to the sobriety and good habits of 
his superior and brother officers. 

“Lightoller was on the bridge when I came on at 8 
o’clock. He was relieved at 10 o’clock by Mr. Mur¬ 
dock, who remained until the accident happened. 
Moody, the sixth officer, was on deck also. Fleland 
Leigh and the bridge officer, Mr. Murdock, were on the 
lookout,” said Boxhall. 

ADMITTED KNOWLEDGE OF BERGS 

Under questioning Boxhall said Captain Smith had 
told him of the position of certain icebergs which he 
marked on the chart. 

Senator Smith then asked the witness: 

“Do you know whether the temperature of the water 
taken from the sea was tested?” 

“Yes, sir; I saw the quartermaster doing it. He 
reported to the junior officer, Mr. Moody.” 

“Did you see the captain frequently Sunday night?” 
asked Senator Smith. 

“Yes, sir; sometimes on the upper deck, sometimes 
in the chart room; sometimes on the bridge, and some¬ 
times in the wheelhouse.” 

“Was the captain on the bridge or at any of the 
other places when you went on watch at 8 o’clock?” 

“No, I first saw the captain about 9 o’clock.” 


274 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ISMAY NOT ON BRIDGE 

“Did you see Mr. Ismay with the captain on the 
bridge or in the wheelhouse?” 

“No, sir; not until after the accident.” 

Boxhall said he did not believe the captain had been 
away from the vicinity of the bridge at any time during 
the watch. 

“When did you see the captain last?” asked Senator 
Smith. 

“When he ordered me to go away in the boat.” 

“Where were you at the time of the collision?” 

“Just approaching the bridge.” 

“Did you see what occurred?” 

“No, I could not see.” 

“Did you hear?” 

“Yes; the senior officer said ‘We have struck an ice¬ 
berg.’ ” 

“Was there any ice on the deck?” 

“Just a little on the lower deck. I heard the report 
of the crash.” 

“Did you see the iceberg?” 

“No, sir.” 

FIRST OFFICER REPORTED ACCIDENT 

Boxhall then went to the bridge, where he found the 
first officer, Mr. Murdock; the sixth officer, Mr. Moody, 
and Captain Smith. 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


275 


Boxhall said the captain asked what was the trouble, 
and the first officer replied they had struck an iceberg, 
and added that he had borne to starboard and reversed 
his engines full speed after ordering the closing of the 
water tight doors. 

“Did you see the iceberg then?” 

“Yes, sir. I could see it dimly. It lay low in the 
water and was about as high as the lower rail of the ship, 
or about thirty feet out of the water.” 

Boxhall said he went down to the steerage, inspected 
all the decks in the vicinity of where the ship had struck, 
found no traces of any damage, and went directly to the 
bridge and so reported. 

“The captain ordered me to send a carpenter to 
sound the ship,” he said, “but I found a carjDenter com¬ 
ing up with the announcement that the ship was taking 
water. In the mail room I found mail sacks floating 
about while the clerks were at work. I went to the 
bridge and reported, and the captain ordered the life¬ 
boats to be made ready. 

**■ 

ANOTHER BOAT NEARBY 

Boxhall testified that at Capt. Smith’s orders he 
took word of the ship’s position to the wireless operators. 

“What position was that?” 

“41:46 north, 50.14 west.” , 

“Was that the last position taken?” 


276 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


“Yes, the Titanic stood not far from there when it 
sank.” 

After that Boxhall went back to the lifeboats, where 
there were many men and women. He said they had 
life belts. 

“After that I was on the bridge most of the time, 
sending out distress signals, trying to attract the atten¬ 
tion of boats ahead,” he said. “I sent up distress rockets 
until I left the ship, to try to attract the attention of 
a ship directly ahead. I had seen its lights. It seemed 
to be meeting us, and was not far away. It got close 
enough, it seemed to me, to read our electric Morse 
signals. I told the captain. He stood with me much 
of the time trying to signal this vessel. He told me 
to tell it in Morse rocket signals, ‘Come at once—we 
are sinking.’ ” 

SAW NO ANSWERING SIGNAL 

“Did any answer come?” asked the senator. 

“I did not see them, but two men say they saw 
signals from that ship.” 

“How far away do you think that ship was?” 

“Approximately five miles.” 

Boxhall said he did not know what ship it was. 

“What did you see on the ship?” 

“First we saw its mast head lights, and a few min¬ 
utes later its red side lights. It was standing closer.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


277 


“Suppose you had had a powerful searchlight on 
the Titanic, could you not have thrown a beam on the 
vessel and have compelled its attention?” 

“We might.” 

ROWED ABOUT AFTER WRECK 

Boxhall said he had rowed in the seaboat three- 
quarters of a mile when the Titanic went down. Before 
that he had rowed around the ship’s stern to see if he 
could not take off three more persons for whom there 
was room. He abandoned that attempt, however, 
because he had with him only one man who knew how 
to handle an oar and he feared an accident. His boat, 
he said, was the first picked up by the Carpathia. That 
■was about 4:10 in the morning. 

“Did you have any conversation with Mr. Ismay 
that night?” 

“Yes, sir, before I left the ship. On the bridge just 
before the captain ordered me below to take an 
emergency boat.” 

“When you boarded the Carpathia, did you see any 
lights on any other lifeboats?” 

“No. It was nearly daylight. It was daylight by 
the time I got my passengers aboard the Carpathia” 

“Could you say any nther lifeboats had lights 
besides yours?” 

“I saw several with lanterns. These lanterns were 


278 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


beside the helmsman in each case and on the bottom of 
the boats. I would not say all the boats had lights.” 

SAW ISMAY IN LIFEBOAT 

Boxhail said he knew none of the American passen¬ 
gers personally, but he knew the identity of Col. John 
Jacob Astor. 

“Did you see Ismay when you got into the lifeboat?” 

“No.” 

“When did you next see Ismay after you left the 
ship?” 

* I saw him in a collapsible boat afterward.” 

“Any women in it?” 

“Yes, it was full of them—well, not exactly full, 
but there were many women—most of them foreigners.” 

“How long after you reached the Carpathia did 
Xsmay’s boat arrive?” 

“I cannot say exactly, but it was before daylight.” 

SAW NONE EEFUSED FESCUE 

Boxhail heard persons on the Titanic say some people 
refused to enter the lifeboats, but he saw no one ejected 
from the boats, nor prevented from entering. 

“Did you see any who got in from the water or see 
any in the water?” 

“No, sir,” said Boxhail. “If I had seen any in the 
water I should have taken them in the boat.” 

Boxhail said the sea was calm and that in his opinion 


[ 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


279 


each of the lifeboats could have taken its full capacity. 
How many he had in his small seaboat he never knew. 

Senator Newlands returned to the subject of the 
icebergs. 

“You say you could not see these great icebergs 
when in the seaboat, but you could hear the water lap¬ 
ping against them?” 

“Yes, sir. It was an oily calm and we could see 
nothing in the small boats.” 

“If the sea is smooth, then, it is difficult to discern 
these icebergs?” 

“Yes, sir. I believe if there had been a little ripple 
on the water the Titanic would have seen it in time to 
avoid it.” 

TESTIMONY OF FRANKLIN 

P. A. S. Franklin was the next witness called. Mr. 
Franklin described the business operations and extent 
of the International Mercantile Marine. 

“What is its capitalization?” asked Senator Smith. 

“One hundred million in common and preferred 
shares, $52,000,000 in 4% per cent bonds, $19,000,000 
in 5 per cent bonds and about $7,000,000 of underlying 
bonds.” 

After Mr. Franklin had read a list of the officials and 
directors of the International, Senator Smith said: 

“Did you know Capt. Smith of the Titanic? 


280 WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

“Ever since 18S8,” said the witness, adding that 
Capt. Smith had commanded the Majestic, Adriatic, 
Baltic, Olympic and the Titanic. 

NO MESSAGES FROM SMITH 

“So far as you know, did you or any of your sub¬ 
ordinate officers have any communication with Capt. 
Smith on his last voyage?” 

“None at all.” 

Mr. Franklin said he had received no communica¬ 
tion from Mr. Ismay except one by cable from South¬ 
ampton. This, he said, was merely a cablegram announc¬ 
ing the complete success of the Titanic's trial trip and 
favorable prospect for a successful voyage. 

Senator Smith then showed Mr. Franklin the tele¬ 
gram received by Congressman Hughes of West Vir¬ 
ginia from the mite Star line, dated New York, April 
15, and addressed to J. A. Hughes, Huntington, W. 
Va., as follows: 

Titanic proceeding to Halifax. Passengers prob¬ 
ably land on Wednesday. All safe. 

“The White Star Line.” 

“I as k you,” continued the senator, “whether you 
know about the sending of that telegram, by whom it 
was authorized and from whom it was sent?” 

I do not, sir, said Franklin. “Since it was men- 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


281 


tioned on Saturday we have had the entire passenger 
staff examined and we cannot find out.” 

FIRST WARNING OF TRAGEDY 

Asked when he first knew the Titanic had sunk, 
Franklin said he first knew it at 6:27 p. m. Monday. 
He then produced a thick package of telegrams which 
he had received Monday in relation to the disaster. 

“How did you ascertain the location of the Olympic, 
Baltic, and others?” asked the senator. 

“We worked them out on our charts. We had no 
direct communication from any of the ships. Our first 
endeavor to communicate with our big ships was a 
message sent April 15 at 3 o’clock a. m. This message 
read as follows: 

“‘Haddock, Olympic: >> Make every endeavor to 
communicate Titanic and advise position and time. 
Reply within the hour.’ ” 

MESSAGE SENT TO OLYMPIC 

Franklin said the Olympic was dispatched this 
message: 

“Haddock, Olympic: Rumored here Titanic sunk. 
Cannot confirm here. Expect Virginia alongside. 
Franklin.” 

“At 6:20 or 6:30 Monday evening,” Mr. Franklin 
continued, “a message was received telling the fateful 
news that the Carpathia reached the Titanic and found 


282 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


nothing but boats and wreckage; that the Titanic had 
foundered at 2:20 a. m. in 41.16 north, 50.14 west; that 
the Carpathia picked up all the boats and had on board 
about 675 of the Titanic’s survivors, passengers and 
crew. This message was from Haddock also. 

“After that we got another message from Haddock 
stating that ‘Yamsi,’ meaning Is'may, was on the 
Carpatliia.” 

MESSAGES ENDED HOPE 

One by one Mr. Franklin read telegrams that had 
been hurled through the air from shore to the ships 
and from them back to the shore. All hope that some 
other vessels besides the Carpathia had picked up some 
of the Titanic’s survivors was dissipated when the 
Olympic flashed word that neither the Baltic nor the 
Tunisian had any of the Titanic’s people aboard. 

Senator Smith sought to discover who had been 
“tampering with the wireless operators or had been 
responsible for the failure of the wireless to get the news 
to shore earlier.” Mr. Smith repeatedly asked the wit- 
ness whether he had not had a conference Monday morn¬ 
ing with Mr. Marconi or Mr. Sammis, chief engineer 
for the Marconi company. 

No, most emphatically,” said the witness. “In no 
way did I attempt or cause to be attempted any censor¬ 
ship of the wireless.” 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


288 


“Did you receive at any time from any one or any 
officer of your company a request that the steamship 
Cedric he held at New York until the arrival of the 
Carpathia?” Senator Smith asked. 

“Yes, sir,” said the witness, and began to read a 
telegram from the Carpathia. 

“What time was it received?” 

“At 5:19,” said the witness, who said the telegram 
asked that the Cedric be held because the sender con¬ 
sidered it “most desirable” that the members of the 
crew be sent back on the Cedric and declaring his inten¬ 
tion of sailing on that ship himself. The sender also 
asked that clothing and shoes be brought to the dock 
for him when the Carpathia got in. 

ISMAY SIGNED IN CIPHER 

“By whom was that signed?” asked Senator Smith. 

“Yamsi.” 

“Do you know who Yamsi is?” 

“Yes, sir. It is cipher for Mr. Ismay’s signature. 
I sent in reply the following: 

“ ‘Yamsi, Carpathia: Have arranged forward crew 
Lapland , sailing Saturday, calling at Plymouth. We 
all consider most unwise to delay Cedric considering cir¬ 
cumstances.’ ” 

Senator Smith then had Franklin read all the mes¬ 
sages that passed between himself and Ismay on the 
Carpathia April 18. At 5:30 a. m. of that day Franklin 


284 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


received from Ismay this message: “Send responsible 
White Star ship officer and fourteen men to two boats 
to take charge of thirteen Titanic lifeboats at quaran¬ 
tine.” 

Franklin testified that he received a message from 
Ismay on the Carpathia a little later on the morning of 
the 18th to join the Carpathia at quarantine and that 
several other messages came from him urging that the 
Cedric be held. After all these had come in Franklin 
cabled Ismay: 

“Think it most unwise to retain Cedric in New 
York.” This was followed by a reply from Ismay 
which included: “Unless you have good and sufficient 
reason to hold the Cedric 3 kindly do so.” 

LEARNED OE SENATE INQUIRY 

In an effort to connect the attempted departure of 
Mr. Ismay and the Titanic crew with the Senate’s inves¬ 
tigation, Senator Smith asked the witness when he had 
learned the Senate had decided to investigate the dis¬ 
aster. 

“I think about 2 o’clock Thursday.” 

Did you communicate the information to your com¬ 
pany?” 

“I did, that night, by cable, I think.” 

“When did you advise Mr. Ismay?” 

“I told him of it when I got aboard the Carpathian 
said the witness. 


235 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

Senator Perkins took Mr. Franklin in hand and 
questioned him at some length as to the safety equip¬ 
ment of the Titanic. 

The Titanic’s equipment was in excess of the law,” 
said the witness. “It carried its clearance in the shape 
of a certificate from the British board of trade.” 

SAFEGUARDS ON OTHER SHIPS 

Senator Bourne took up the same line of question* 
in g. 

“Has anything been done with the equipment of 
other ships as a result of the disaster?” he asked. 

“Most emphatically,” answered Mr. Franklin. “On 
last Friday Mr. Ismay ordered that all our vessels be 
equipped with boats and rafts sufficient to take off every 
passenger and every member of the crew in case of 
accident.” 

“Do you know of any one, any officer or man, or 
any official who you deem could be held responsible for 
the accident and its attendant loss of life?” 

“Positively not. No one thought such an accident 
could happen. It was undreamed of.” 

Mr. Franklin volunteered a statement relating to 
criticisms of the White Star Company for attempting 
to return the crew of the Titanic to Europe immedi¬ 
ately. 

“I think there has been an awful mistake made about 
that matter,” said Franklin. “I would like to clear it 


286 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


up. The criticisms have been made that we were try¬ 
ing to keep those men from testifjdng. That is not so. 
It was not the reason at all. As far as the crew are 
concerned it was our duty to return them to their homes. 
We assured you that we would hold any officers or men 
that you wanted for this committee.” 

Senator Newlands brought out that the speed of 
the Titanic at the time of the accident was about four 
miles an hour below that of the Mauretania and Lusi¬ 
tania. 

“Do you have rules governing the running of a ship 
in fog or when ice is in a ship’s vicinity?” 

“We have stringent rules. Xone of the commanders 
that I have ever had communication with ever got the 
idea from me that our company wanted records 
broken.” 


CHAPTER XXXII 


SENATE COMMITTEE EXAMINED LOOK¬ 
OUT AND PASSENGER 

Further Description of the Wreck by an Eye- 
Witness in Official Testimony — Marine 
Glasses for Lookout Might Have Prevented 
Wreck 

Failure to provide binoculars or spy glasses for the 
lookouts on the Titanic was one contributing cause of 
that ship’s loss and, with it, the loss of 1,600 lives. 

Two witnesses before the Senate investigating com¬ 
mittee agreed on this. They were Frederick Fleet, a 
lookout on the liner, and Maj. Arthur Godfrey 
Peuchen, Canadian manufacturer and yachtsman, who 
was among the rescued passengers. 

MIGHT HAVE AVOIDED BERG 

Fleet acknowledged that if he had been aided in his 
observations by a good glass he probably could have 
spied the berg into which the ship crashed in time to have 
warned the bridge to avoid it. Major Peuchen also 
testified to the much greater sweep of vision afforded by 
binoculars and, as a yachtsman, said he believed the 

237 


288 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


presence of the iceberg might have been detected in 
time to escape the collision had the lookout men been 
so equipped. 

It was made to appear that the blame for being with¬ 
out glasses did not rest with the lookout men. Fleet 
said they had asked for them at Southampton and were 
told there were none for them. One glass, in a pinch, 
would have served in the crow’s nest. 

LACKED EXPERIENCED SAILORS 

Major Peuchen criticised in strong terms the lack 
of experienced sailors on board the Titanic. He said 
that when the call to quarters was sounded not enough 
of the crew responded to undertake the work required 
in lowering and filling the boats. Furthermore, he said, 
no drills had been held from the time the ship left South¬ 
ampton, although it was customary to hold such drills 
every Sunday. 

Herbert J. Pitman, third officer of the Titanic, told 
of his failure to turn back the lifeboat in which he and 
his passengers were idly drifting, to attempt the rescue 
of others when the Titanic went down. Shuddering at 
the recollection, he said the cries for help made “one 
long, continuous moan.” 

The passengers insisted that to go back to aid would 
mean their destruction, he said, so that after starting 
in the direction of the cries he rescinded his orders and 


289 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

waited for the dawn. Twice he begged to be spared a 
recital of the facts, but Senator Smith pressed him. 

ISMAY KEPT IN CAPITAL 

J. Bruce Xsmay, managing director of the Inter¬ 
national Mercantile Marine, and Vice President P. A. 
S. Franklin of the White Star Line, urgently requested 
the committee to permit them to return to New York. 

In executive session at the close of the hearing the 
committee declined to allow either to leave Washington 
until he was no longer needed. 

PHOTOGRAPHERS DRIVEN OUT 

The importunities and activities of a squad of pho¬ 
tographers so aroused Senator Smith that he indig¬ 
nantly ordered them all excluded from the chamber. 

“This inquiry is official and solemn,” he said in expla¬ 
nation, “and there will be no hippodroming or com¬ 
mercializing of it. I will not permit it.” 

An amateur photographer managed to slip past 
the guard later, but was summarily ejected when he 
sought to get a snap of the scene. 

CROWD EXCLUDED 

Owing to the constant interruptions during the inter¬ 
rogation of witnesses the Senate committee determined 
to exclude the general public. To accomplish this the 
hearing was transferred to a smaller room in the Senate 
office building. Only witnesses, those particularly inter- 


290 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ested in the inquiry and members of the press were 
admitted to the room. 

Herbert J. Pitman, third officer, was the first wit¬ 
ness of the day. It had been expected that J. B. Box- 
hall, fourth officer, would be recalled, but it was 
announced he was ill. 

ONLY SIXTEEN MEN DRILLED 

Pitman said that in the boat drill conducted by the 
board of trade at Southampton approximately eight 
men went in each of the two boats used in the drill. 

The witness maintained that virtually the only way 
to discover the proximity of icebergs was to see them, 
asserting that, while science may hold there are numer¬ 
ous ways, they never have been demonstrated. 

Pitman was on the bridge of the Titanic from 6 to 
8 o’clock the night of the collision. After that he went 
to his berth. Half asleep at the time of the accident, he 
said he wondered sleepily w r here they were anchoring. 
It was nearly time for his next watch, so he dressed 
leisurely and was lighting his pipe when Mr. Boxhall 
told him the ship had struck an iceberg. He went 
forward and saw ice, and then walked back, where a 
number of firemen coming up told him there was water 
in the hatch. 

ISMAY REALIZED PERIL 

Going on deck he met a man whom he afterward 
learned was Mr. Ismay, who said, “Hurry, there’s no 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


291 


time for fooling.” Mr. Ismay helped him load the boat 
in which Pitman embarked on orders from Sir. Mur¬ 
dock after calling for more women passengers and find¬ 
ing there was none in sight. 

The witness said that just before the boat pulled 
away Mr. Murdock leaned over, shook his hand, and 
said, “Good-by and good luck, old man.” 

“When you shook hands with Murdock did you 
expect to see him again?” 

“Certainly.” 

“Do you think he expected to see you again?” 

“Apparently not, but I expected fully to be back on 
the ship in a few hours.” 

GOING AT FULL SPEED WHEN BERG WAS STRUCK 

Pitman told of the placing on the chart of crosses 
indicating the presence of icebergs by the fourth officer 
and said that the speed had been increased from twenty 
and one-half knots on leaving Southampton to twenty- 
one and one-half knots and that he supposed the ship 
was going at top speed when it struck. 

The witness said he had not seen any Morse signals 
on the Titanic and did not of his personal knowledge 
know of the presence of another ship, but that he later 
had heard that one had passed. 

SOUNDED WARNING OF BERG 

Fleet said that he went into the crow’s nest at 10 
o’clock and, obeying a warning, kept a sharp lookout for 


292 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


ice. At 11:30 o’clock he reported a black mass ahead, 
but could not tell how long it was before the collision 
came. He sounded three bells and telephoned to the 
bridge that there was an iceberg ahead, and soon the 
ship started to turn to port. 

When Fleet first saw the berg it appeared about the 
size of two big tables, he said, but when struck it proved 
to be fifty or sixty feet high. 

Fleet said that when the collision came there was 
little impact and “just a sharp grinding noise.” 

“Did it alarm you?” asked the senator. 

“No, I thought it was a narrow shave.” 

HAD NO SPY GLASS 

“Did you have glasses?” asked Senator Smith. 

“No, sir.” 

“Isn’t it customary for the lookouts to use glasses in 
their work?” 

“Yes, sir, but they didn’t give us any on the Titanic. 
We asked for them at Southampton, but they said there 
were none for us.” 

COULD HAVE ESCAPED 

“We had a pair from Belfast to Southampton, but 
none from Southampton to the place of the accident.” 

“What became of the glasses you had from Belfast?” 

“We do not know.” 

“If you had had glasses could you have seen the ice- 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


293 


berg sooner?” asked Senator Smith. 

“We could have seen it a bit sooner,” said Fleet. 

“How much sooner?” 

“Enough to get out of the way.” 

“Were you and Leigh disappointed that you had no 
glasses?” 

“Yes.” 

“Did the officers on the bridge have glasses?” 

“Yes.” 

MAJOR THOUGHT SHOCK WAVE 

Major Peuchen was the first passenger witness to 
appear before the committee. All ten of his friends with 
whom he was traveling lost their lives in the wreck. The 
major told of the trip and said: 

“There was no mention of fire and we were all 
pleased with the trip until the crash. After 11 o’clock 
I went to my stateroom. I scarcely was undressed when 
I felt a shock. I thought merely that a large wave had 
struck the ship. 

“Fifteen minutes later I met Charles M. Hays of 
the Grand Trunk-Pacific. I asked him, ‘Have you seen 
the ice?’ Fie said ‘No.’ Then I took him up and 
showed him. Then I noticed the boat was listing. I 
said to Mr. Hays: 

“ ‘It’s listing; it shouldn’t do that.’ 

“He said: ‘Oh, I don’t know. This boat can’t sink.’ 


294 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


He had a good deal of confidence and said: ‘No matter 
what we have struck it’s good for eight or ten hours.’ 

SEEMED SHORT OF SAILORS 

“I met my friend Beattie, who said: ‘The order is 
for the lifeboats. It is serious.’ I couldn’t believe it at 
first, but went to my cabin and changed to some heavy 
clothes.” 

The witness said when he got on deck the boats were 
being prepared for lowering on the port side. 

“They seemed to be short of sailors around the life¬ 
boats were I was. When I came on deck first it seemed 
to me that about 100 stokers came up with their gunny 
sacks and crowded the deck. One of the officers, a 
splendid man, drove these men right off the deck. He 
drove them like sheep.” 

CALLED SMITH ATTENTIVE 

“Do you think the captain was attentive to his 
duties?” 

“Yes, I do.” 

Major Peuchen praised the women who rowed in the 
boats. He said there was room in some boats which left 
from the port side and he could not understand why 
more men were not taken off. 

NO GENERAL ALARM SOUNDED 

Several senators asked if the fact that there was no 
general alarm sounded after the collision might account 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


295 


for the failure of many women to appear on the decks in 
time for the lifeboats. He thought that probable. 

Major Peuchen told the committee he thought that 
if the lookouts on the Titanic had had glasses the ship 
might have been saved from the collision. 



—Columbus Evening Despatch 





















CHAPTER XXXIII 

MEMBERS OF SHIP S CREW ON STAND 


Members of the Crete Told Their Stories Offi¬ 
cially, Describing for the Most Part the 
Loading of the Lifeboats and the Conduct 

OF ISMAY. 

Harold G. Lowe, fifth officer of the Titanic, told his 
story of the wreck before the investigating committee. 
His testimony revealed the fact that, with a volunteer 
crew, he rescued four men from the water, saved a sink¬ 
ing collapsible lifeboat by towing it and took off twenty 
men and one woman from the bottom of an overturned 
boat, all of whom he landed safely on the Carpathia. 
.Lowe testified that he looked over the lifeboats in Belfast 
Harbor and found everything in them, except a dipper 
which w r as missing from one. He was not sure whether 
a fire drill had been held or not. He did not know 
whether the officers ivere at their right places on the side 
of the ship where he was or not. He was not on duty 
Sunday night and could not be induced to make a 
positive statement of the ship’s position, though he had 
a memorandum of the speed on that day as a fraction 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 297 

below 21 knots an hour. He asserted that he was a 
temperate man. 

TOLD OF LOADING BOATS. 

The witness said he did not know when he was 
awakened. He said he dressed hurriedly and went on 
deck and found people with life belts on the boats being 
prepared. He began working at the lifeboats. 

“I was working the boats under First Officer 
Murdock,” he said. “Boat No. 5 was the first one 
lowered. 

“There were about ten officers helping, two at each 
end, two in the boat, and others at the ropes.” 

ORDERED ISMAY TO KEEP QUIET. 

“A steward met me on the Carpatliia. He said to 
me, ‘What did you say to Ismay that night on the deck?’ 
I said that I did not know that I had said anything to 
Mr. Ismay. I did not know him. Well, the steward oil 
the Carpatliia said I had used strong language to Mr. 
Ismay. I happened to talk to Ismay because he 
appeared to be getting excited. He was saying 
excitedly, ‘Lower away, lower away, lower away.’ ” 

Chairman Smith asked Mr. Ismay about the lan¬ 
guage and Mr. Ismay suggested that the objectionable 
language be written down to see if it was appropriate. 
This was done. They returned to the question of life- 


298 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


boats after Lowe explained that Ismay “was interfering 
with our work. He was interfering with me, and I 
wanted him to get back so that we could work. He was 
trying to get in the boat.” 

DENIED TALKING WITH WOMEN. 

“How many men were in the boat?” 

“I’m not sure, sir, but I should say about ten.” 

Lowe denied having conversed with Mrs. Douglas 
or Mrs. Ryerson on board the Carpathia. 

Senator Smith asked Lowe if in his opinion the life¬ 
boat before it was lowered was loaded to its proper 
capacity. 

Lowe tried to avoid making a direct answer. Senator 
Smith insisted upon an answer. 

“Yes, sir,” said Lowe, finally, “I think it was 
properly loaded for lowering.” 

“What is the official quota for such a lifeboat?” 

“It can carry sixty-five adults and say, a boy or 
girl” 

“Then you wish the committee to understand that a 
lifeboat under British regulations could not be lowered 
with safety with new tackle and equipment containing 
more than fifty people?” 

“The dangers are if you overcrowd the boat it will 
buckle up from the two ends,” said Lowe. “The 65.5 
is a floating capacity. If you load from the deck to 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 299 

lower I should not like to put more than fifty in a life¬ 
boat. 55 

Senator Smith referred to Third Officer Pitman^ 
testimony in which he said there were thirty-five persons 
in lifeboat No. 5. That being the case, he asked why 
Pitman could not have gone to the rescue of the drown¬ 
ing, whose cries he heard plainly, but did not heed. 

“Had he attempted to rescue those in the water he 
would have endangered the lives of those with him,’ 5 
[Lowe asserted. 

DENIED LACK OF OARSMEN. 

Senator Smith asked if it were not true that the 
reason why the boats w T ere not properly loaded was 
because the crew were not able to row. The witness 
denied this. 

“What was the drill for at Southampton?” asked the 
chairman. 

“It was for the board of trade.” 

“There were eight men to a boat then. They were 
all oarsmen. Where were they when you were loading 
lifeboat No. 5?” 

“You must remember, sir, we were in harbor and we 
had the pick of the men. At the time of the collision the 
men went down with the ‘bosun’ to clear away the gang^ 
way doors to make way for the loading.” 


BOO 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


The witness said the discipline was excellent. Only; 
one boat, a collapsible one, overturned. 

Senator Smith asked the number of the crew and 
the witness said so far as he knew there were 903 of 
(them. 

“And with 903 men aboard,” said the senator, “you 
idid not have enough to man twenty lifeboats properly?” 

The witness demurred and the chairman showed his 
disapproval, going to the extent of criticising the officer’s 
refusal to make direct replies. 

DID NOT REFUSE ANY ONE. 

Senator Smith then sought to discover whether any 
men, women, or children had been refused admission to 
the boats or were put out of the boats after they had 
gotten in. The officer said no one was refused and 
declared the only confusion was by the passengers inter¬ 
fering with the lowering gear. 

“There was no such thing as selecting. First we 
took the women and children, then others as they came. 
There was a procession at both ends of the boat; in little 
knots they were, little crowds.” 

“Was Mr. Ismay there?” 

“Yes, he was; he was right alongside of me. I didn’t 
know it was Mr. Ismay then, but I know now. It was 
the same man whom I had ordered not to interfere in 
lowering No. 5. But he took hold and was helping 


301 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 

afterward. I could see his face in the glare of the 
rockets, and he aided in lowering boat No. 3.” 

Lowe told of tying five of the lifeboats together, 
transferring the passengers from his boat, and then 
called for volunteers to row back to the wreck. 

“We rowed back and around the wreck,” said the 
witness, “and we picked up four men who were strug¬ 
gling in the water.” 

‘ You said a moment ago that you had waited before 
returning to the wreck until ‘things quieted down,’ ” said 
Senator Smith. “What did you mean by ‘quieted 
down’? ” 

“Until the cries ceased.” 

“The cries of the drowning?” 

“Yes, sir. We did not dare go into the struggling 
mass. It would have sunk us. We remained on the 
edge of the scene, but it would have been suicide to have 
gone in.” 

“How long did it require for things to get quiet?” 

“About an hour and a half.” 

“How many persons were on your boat when you 
went alongside the Carpathia?” 

“About forty-five. I took them off a sinking col¬ 
lapsible boat. I left the bodies of three men.” 

Senator Smith wanted to know about the shooting 
on board the Titanic while it was sinking. Lowe said he 


802 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


had fired three shots into the water to scare away some 
immigrants on one of the decks who he feared were 
about to swamp a loaded boat by jumping. He was 
certain the shots struck no one. 

TESTIMONY GIVEN BY LIGHTOLLE3J. 

Chief interest in the testimony of C. H. Lightoller, 
second officer of the Titanic, was centered in his story of 
the actions of J. Bruce Ismay. 

Senator Burton asked the witness to relate his con¬ 
versation with Ismay on the Carpatliia. Lightoller said 
he and his brother officers talked over the sailing of the 
Cedric and had agreed it would have been a “jolly good 
idea” if they could catch the vessel. It would result in 
keeping the men together and let every one get home. 

“Mr. Ismay, when the weather thickened, remarked 
to me,” said Lightoller, “that it was hardly possible that 
we could catch the boat. He asked me if I thought it 
desirable that he send a wireless to hold the Cedric . We 
were all agreed that it was the best course and we all 
advised it.” 

ISMAY DEPLORED RESCUE. 

“I will say that at that time Sir. Ismay was in no 
mental condition to transact business,” said Lightoller. 
“He seemed to be possessed with the idea that he ought 
to have gone down with the ship because there were 
Women who went down. I tried my best to get that idea 



WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


303 


out of his mind, but could not. I told him that there 
was more for him to do on earth and that he should not 
let the idea possess him that he had done a wrong in not 
staying back to drown. The doctor on the Carpathia 
had trouble with Mr. Ismay on the same ground. 

“I was told on the Carpathia that Chief Officer 
Wild, who was working at the forward collapsible boat, 
told Mr. Ismay there were no more women to go. Ismay 
still stood back and Wild, who was a big, powerful man, 
bundled him into the collapsible boat.” 

Senator Smith asked Lightoller why when he testi¬ 
fied in New York he did not tell about the sending of the 
telegram from the Carpathia urging that the Cedric be 
held. 

“I did not say anything about it then because there 
had been nothing said about the telegram at that time,” 
said Lightoller. 

“Did you know when you sent the message the 
Senate was going to hold an investigation?” 

“Most certainly not, or the telegram would never 
have been sent. Our sole idea was to keep witnesses to¬ 
gether for just such an investigation, which we knew 
would be made in England.” 

Lightoller said that S. Hemmings, a lampman, who 
was waiting to testify before the committee, walked the 
length of the ship just before it sank and had seen only 
two women. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 


THE BEREFT IN THE BOATS 
By Feed S. Millee 

In the first stories of the Titanic disaster sent broad¬ 
cast by the press of two continents, the obvious and spec¬ 
tacular features were of course most emphasized. Sen¬ 
sational columns-full lauded the heroism of the hun¬ 
dreds dead, and told the chiefest incidents of the wreck; 
then came shrieking denunciation of the ship owners, 
as their recklessness was revealed in the senatorial 
inquiry. And now that all the facts are known, the 
account bids fair to stand thus in men’s minds: for the 
heroes, praise to the skies; damnation for the guiltily 
responsible, whose laxity or greed brought about the 
tragedy. 

One item is too little dwelt upon. Although we 
judge unsparingly all criminal carelesness, and while we 
fittingly remember those who gave their lives to rescue 
others, we owe a tender duty also to the rescued, who 
were hurried over the vessel’s side amid the midnight 
agony and uproar—good-byes said in the sudden bewil¬ 
derment of terror above which rang the fearful summons 
“Women and children first!’ 1 


J04 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


303 


At this it had taken much manly authority to induce 
these wives to be saved, also (glory of humanity!) a 
deal of lying. 

“It’s best for you to get in the boat, dear, though 
of course there’s no real danger in my staying here! 
The Titanic's unsinkable, you remember. Captain Smith 
wants all the women and children—why just think of 
ours!—away, so as to be on the safe side, that’s all. 
There’s another steamer coming, and when it picks you 
up in the morning you’ll find me right here!”- 

And so forth. Those husbands, how they laid it on. 
“Men were deceivers ever!” Thus they stayed a panic; 
doing all that inexperienced brave men could do in that 
crisis of the wreck to turn a few scant boatsful from the 
yawning gulf into which the ship was every instant 
sinking, sinking. 

So the women and their little ones were hurried to 
the rail and lowered to the blackness far beneath. Row¬ 
ing away, they could turn their eyes to the steamer 
which yet showed no evidence of collapse, as it loomed 
across the water, its huge hulk outlined quite from end 
to end by rows of glowing lights—when on an instant 
hese lights faded sicklily, then died! as though to shut 
from those who longingly looked back a last faint ray 
of hope, left as they were now quite cut off, adrift in 
the unutterable profound. Beneath, two-thousand- 
ifathoms-deep of heaving ocean, over which they poised 



808 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


buoyed only by the boat’s inch planks; above* the deeper 
depth, black midnight far as the illimitable stars. 

All sense of distance and direction speedily was lost 
for them; we may imagine the awed conjectures; 

“Where is the vessel?” 

“Over there, very dimly seen—so far we must have 
come!” 

“But what is that other shape? how strange, a huge 
hill rising awful in the sea!” 

“No! the iceberg on which the steamer struck.” 

“I had thought the Titanic would have shivered any¬ 
thing of ice; yet there the berg uprears itself unmoved, 
as though it lingered patient to see the end!” 

Also we may imagine that they comforted one 
another and soothed the wailing children, as is the 
wont of women; prayed to the good God and were 
heartened so—prayers for the safety of the stricken ship 
yet faithful to its trust of keeping safe their loved ones. 

So they drifted, an hour in the chill northern night, 
suffering intensely, seeing nothing but their own dim 
huddled forms, hearing nothing but a faint, confused, 
deceiving murmur from the vessel, and the harsh grind¬ 
ing of the ice cakes littering the ocean all about. It 
had been the captain’s orders that they keep to the boats; 
they would do their duty—never mind the cold—blindly 
obey—theirs not to reason why! Joy cometh in the 
morning; and when the blessed light should prove the 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


807 


fear of wreck had only been a temporary vague alarm, 
they would row back to where—each felt assured—was 
one who longed for her as she was longing now. Saved 
from the sea, then; reunited! never to be parted more! 

Who may conceive their feelings when with a horror 
of amazement the explosion came, and sheets of fire sent 
soaring from the steamer’s funnels revealed to land and 
sea that all was lost. When the pierced monster, with a 
rending roar, reared its prodigious bulk full upright in 
the ocean, poised so for an instant and then plunged, 
quenching all hope, leaving the waste of waters blacker 
with despair and night. We may believe that none of 
the terror of the scene was felt by those to whom it 
brought an overwhelming desolation. They were not 
appalled—no more than were those other women when 
“there was darkness over all the land until the ninth 
hour,” when the rocks were rent and the graves opened. 
Perhaps they were awed by the contemplation of a sac¬ 
rifice, for the first time comprehending why the men 
gave up their places in the boats; perhaps they were 
stricken numb with a grief too great for tears. 

And would that that were all! For thence the night 
brought forth a crueler infliction. What had been, was 
frightful; but what ensued was an exquisite torture for 
the pitiful unoffenders, forced to hear the agony of 
those drowning, who moaned amid the lacerating ice 
cakes, cried w r ith a loud voice and yielded up the ghost, 



008 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


or called again beseeching help where help was none. 
Help? “The depth saith it is not in me, and the sea 
saith it is not with me!” Those in charge of the boats 
returned as pitiless a silence. Although the women 
begged, they dare not venture back among the gasping 
hundreds battling desperately with death amid the icy 
waves. 

For an hour the dying cries kept on—a long, intol¬ 
erable and agonizing hour, a blended hum of multi¬ 
farious woe up welling from the waters, a mystery of 
awful utterance in the blackness of the night. How it 
smote on those who could not save! Also there were 
other voices, right at hand, as here: 

“Oh, mamma, listen! that’s papa! I hear him call¬ 
ing, calling! Why don’t the men row back? It’s so 
cold for him in the water!” 

“We can’t go back after those stiffs!” is the answer 
of a boatswain, as sworn to in the Senate’s inquiry. A 
man can be more callous than the elements; not even the 
iceberg’s adamant can match that piece of netherstone, 
his heart. 

How wives and mothers listened yet endured it all 
may never be described. Mercifully only one went mad. 
Also by mercy’s grace the rest, with gratitude unbeliev¬ 
able, could note the mounting quiet as the moans grew 
less and the deep claimed its sacrifice of saviors. Finally 
all were gone—not a gasp, not another choking sigh 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


309 


the offering accepted, the immolation made complete; 
with the sea laid smooth again and swept with the pro¬ 
claiming breeze and the minutest first faint light streaks 
of the dawn. 

Then o’er the waves came human kind bringing 
rescue, bringing the love and outpoured pity of the 
world of men. 

Doubtless, human sympathy is the divine consola¬ 
tion. That they could bring the story of that midnight 
to the universal heart, laying thereon the sacrifice of their 
heroic dead—this privilege soothed away, for the bereft 
in the boats and for their pitying friends world ’round, 
the dark and blighting aspects of a tragedy unliuman 
and terrific. For we are all fellow partakers of a rev¬ 
erence for unselfishness; we all hunger and thirst after 
the righteousness of saviors; and we are all allied against 
unpitying nature, sharing the yoke of domineering 
chance and change—bound in affection so. 

Thus is preserved, from all the wreck of the Titanic, 
only the memory of an exalted offering. Quickened, 
also, the assurance that man is, somehow, kin to tha 
Giver of eveiy good and perfect gift. 

This assurance persists, triumphant over 'man’s every 
overthrow by his adverse environment. Whence comes 
it, in despite of the despairing, harsh vicissitudes that 
torture and perplex their puppet here, affirming at each 
unmerited assault—there is no God! It springs from 


310 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


human kindness; it is bom of our mutual helplessness 
and our reliance on each other; confirmed by deeds of 
devotion and the reverence that accepts them. By the 
hour-long sacrificing death in icy waters, by the anguish 
of the ones who hovered near but were too weak to save. 

So is revealed humanity’s refuge and strength, called 
by them of old time “the fear of the Lord.” Our priv¬ 
ilege is to recognize it in every helpful act, in every 
kindly thought. Yea, in manifold nature also it is our 
highest wisdom to perceive it, even when her mysterious 
climaxes seem to laugh all human effort, faith and trust 
to scorn; when the pitiless depth saith it is not in me, 
and the angry sea saith it is not with me! 



—Columbus Th-PT:*"q T'ispclch- 















CHAPTER XXXV 


TITANIC’S DEAD BROUGHT BACK 

Return of the Funeral Ship Mackay-Benneti 
with the Bodies of 190 Victims of the Disaster 
Picked Up at Sea 

By arrangement with the officers of the White Star 
line, the cable ship Mackay-Bennett was despatched to 
the scene of the disaster to pick up as many of the 
bodies of the victims as possible. She returned to PXali- 
fax, X. S., on April 30, leaving another vessel, the Minia, 
to continue the grewsome search. 

Steaming slowly into Halifax harbor, the Mackay - 
Bennett reached her dock in the navy yard shortly after 
9:3Q a. m., while the city’s church bells tolled and British 
flags fluttered at half mast. 

It was announced that the total number of bodies 
on board was 190 and that it had been found necessary 
to bury 116 at sea. Among those brought to port were 
the bodies of two women. 

astor's body taken to morgue 
Colonel Astor’s body was taken from the ship shortly 
before noon and borne with others to the morgue. 

Caj)t. F. PI. Larnder described the work of the 
311 


812 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


Mack ay-Bennett at sea. The number of bodies found, 
he said, was 800. Of these 116, most of them members 
of the Titanic’s crew and unidentified, were consigned 
to the sea. Only eighteen bodies of women were found 
afloat. 

Relics of the great Titanic dotted the sea over an 
area thirty miles square. Captain Larnder said. Doors, 
windows and chairs by the score were found floating, 
but to none of them were bodies lashed. In several 
instances there were groups of floating bodies number¬ 
ing fifty or more. Colonel Astor was found almost erect 
in his lifebelt. 

Small boats were lowered by the Mackay-Bennett 
whenever a group of bodies was sighted, and into these 
the dead were piled three or four at a time. Hauled 
on board the cable ship, each was numbered with a large 
canvas tag and the valuables and papers were placed in 
a canvas sack similarly numbered. 

CONDUCT SERVICES FOR DEAD 

Canon K. O. Hind of All Saints’ Cathedral, Hali¬ 
fax, who was on board, conducted the services in connec¬ 
tion with the burial at sea. On three separate occasions 
services were held. 

“We buried so many at sea,” said Captain Larnder, 
“simply because we could not accommodate them. We 
had limited embalming supplies, and it was necessary to 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


313 


consign many to the deep. The majority of those sunk 
were unidentified. We had instructions when we left 
here to pick up all the Titanic’s dead we found, but 
under the conditions it was impossible to carry out these 
instructions.” 

It was announced that there was no doubt of the 
identification of Colonel Astor’s body. In the pockets 
$2,500 cash had been found and he wore a belt with a 
gold buckle. The body identified as that of Mr. 
Widener was buried at sea. 

The bodies were all tenderly and respectfully cared 
for. Those identified were delivered to relatives or 
friends and the unidentified were given Christian burial 
at Halifax, whose citizens purpose erecting a monument 
to their honored memory. 



314 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


TWO GREAT NATIONS MOURN 

When the news of the disaster to so many noted 
British subjects and American citizens was reecived, 
messages of condolence were exchanged by King George 
of England and President Taft as follows: 

king george's message 

‘‘The Queen and I are anxious to assure you and the 
American nation of the great sorrow which we expe¬ 
rienced at the terrible loss of life that has occurred 
among the American citizens, as well as among my own 
subjects, by the foundering of the Titanic . Our two 
countries are so intimately allied by ties of friendship 
and brotherhood that any misfortunes which affect the 
one must necessarily affect the other, and on the present 
terrible occasion they are both equally sufferers. 

“George R. and I.” 

PRESIDENT TAFT's REPLY 

“In the presence of the appalling disaster to the 
Titanic the people of the two countries are brought into 
community of grief through their common bereavement. 
The American people share in the sorrow of their kins¬ 
men beyond the sea. On behalf of my countrymen I 
thank you for your sympathetic message. 

“William H. Taft/' 


WRECK OF THE TITANIC 


315 



^—Cincinnati Post 











816 WRECK OF THE TITMlQ > 


CROSSING THE BAR 

Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me* 

And may there he no moaning of the bar. 

When I put out to sea. 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep. 

Too full for sound and foam, 

When that which drew from out the boundless deep 
Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark! 

And may there be no sadness of farewell. 

When I embark. 

For tho’ from out our Bourne of Time and Place 
The flood may bear me far, 

I hope to see my Pilot face to face 
When I have crost the bar. 

—Alfred Lord Tennyson. 





LIST OF THE DEAD 


The following list of passengers missing from the 
Titanic, revised from last reports from the Carpaihia, 
contains only 914 actual names out ot the total of 1,635 
lost, but many more are accounted for in the steerage 
reports under the word “family.” Still more of the vic¬ 
tims in the steerage have not yet been named, and few, 
if any, of the names of the missing among the crew have 


been reported. 


FIRST CABIN 


Anderson, Harry. 
Allison, H. J. 

Allison, Mrs., and maid 
Allison, Miss. 

Andrews, Thomas. 
Artagavoytia, Ramon. 
Astor. Col. J. J*» ant ^ 
servant. 

Anderson, Walker. 
Beattie, T. 

Brandies, E. 

Mrs. Wm. Bucknell’s 
maid. 

Baumann, J. 

Baxter, Mr. and Mrs. 
Quigg. 

Bjornstrom, H. 
Birnbaum, Jacob. 
Blackwell, S. W. 
Borebank, J. J. 
Bowden, Miss. 

Brady, John B. 

Brewe, Arthur J. 
Butt, Major A. 

Clark, Walter M. 
Clifford, George Q. 
Colley, E. P. 

Cardeza, T. D. M.» 

servant of. 

Cardeza, Mrs. J. W., 
maid of. 

Carlson, Frank. 

Case, Howard B. 
Cavendish, W. Tyrrell. 
Corran, F. M. 

Corran, J. P. 

Chafee, Mr. H. I. 
Chisholm, Robert. 
Compton, A. T. 
Crafton, John B. 
Crosby, Edward G. 
Cumings, J. Bradley. 
Davidson, Thornton. 
Dulles, William G. 
Douglas, W. D. 

Nurse of Douglas, 


Master R. 

Eustis, Miss E. M., 
may be reported 
saved as Miss Ellis. 

Evans, Miss E. 

Fortune, Mark. 

Foreman, B. L. 

Fortune, Charles. 

Franklin, T. P. 

Futrelle, J. 

Gee, Arthur. 

Goldenberg, E. L. 

Goldschmidt, G. B. 

Greenfield, G. B. 

Giglio, Victor. 

Guggenheim, Benj. 

Servant of Harper, 
Henry S. 

Hays, Charles M. 

Maid of Hays, Mrs 
Charles M. 

Head, Christopher. 

Hilliard, H. H. 

Hopkins, W. F. 

Hogenheim, Mrs. A. 

Harris, Henry B. 

Harp, Mr. and Mrs 
Charles M. 

Harp, Miss Margaret, 
and maid. 

Hoyt, W. F. 

Holverson, A. M. 

Isham, Miss A. E. 

Servant of J. Bruce 
Ismay. 

Julian, H. F. 

.Jones, C. C. 

Kent, Edward A. 

Kenyon, Mr. and Mrs 
F. R. (may be re 
ported saved as Ken 
chen and Kenny - 
man). . 

Kimball, Mr. and Mrs. 
E. N. (may be re¬ 
ported saved as Mr. 


and Mrs. E. Kimber-.Maid of Cnts. Rothes, 
ley). 1 Rothschild, M. 

Klober, Herman. |Rowe, Arthur. 

- Ryerson, A. 


Lambert, Williams. 
Lawrence, Arthur. 
Long, Milton. 

Longley, Miss G. F. 
Lewy, E. G. 

Lindsbolm, J. (may be 
reported saved as 
Mrs. Sigrid Lind 
strom). 

Loring, J. H. 

Lingrey, Edward. 
Maguire, J. E. 
MeCaffry, T. 

McCaffry, T., Jr. 
McCarthy, T., Jr. 
Marvin, D. W. 
Middleton, J. C. 
Millett, Frank D. 
Minahan, Dr. and Mrs. 
Marechal, Pierre. 
Meyer, Edgar J. 
Molson, H. M. 

Moore, C., servant. 
Natsch, Charles. 
Newall, Miss T. 
Nicholson, A. S. 

Ovies, S. 

Ostby, E. C. 

Ornout, Alfred T. 
Parr, M. H. W. 

Pears, Mr. and Mrs. 
Thomas. 

Penasco, Mr. Victor. 
Partner, M. A. 

Payne, V. 

Pond, F., and maid. 
Porter, Walter. 
Reuchlin, J. 

Maid of Robert, Mrs 
E. 

Roebling, W. A., 2d. 
Rood, Hugh R. 

Roes, J. Hugo. 


Shutes, Miss E. W. 
(probably reported 
saved as Miss Shut¬ 
ter). 

Maid of Mrs. G. Stone. 
Straus, Mr. and Mrs. 
Isidor. 

Silvey, William B. 
Maid of Mrs. D. C. 
Spedden. 

Speden, Master D., 
and nurse. 

Spencer, W. A. 

Stead, W. T. 

Stehli, Mr. and Mrs. 

Max Frolisher. 
Sutton, Frederick. 
Smart, John M. 

Smith, Clinch. 

Smith, R. W. 

Stewart, A. A. (may 
be reported saved aa 
Frederick Stewart). 
Smith, L. P. 

Taussig, Mrs. Emil. 
Maid of Mrs. Thayer. 
Thayer, John B. 
Thorne, C. 

Vanderhoof, Wyckoff. 
Walker, W. A. 
Warren, F. M. 

White, Percival A. 
White, Richard F. 
Widener, G. D., and 
servant. 

Widener, Harry. 

Wood, Mr. and Mrs. 

Frank P. 

Weir, J. 

Wick, George D. 
Williams, Duane. 
Wright, George. 









318 


LIST OF THE BEAU 


SECOND CABIN 


Abelson, Samson. 
Andrew, Frank. 

Ashby, John. 
Aldwortb, C. 

Andrew, Edgar. 
Beacken, James H. 
Brown, Mrs. 

Banfield, Fred. 

Beigbt, Nall. 

Braily, Bandsman. 
Breicoux, Bandsman. 
Bailey, Percy, 
Bainbridge, C, R. 
Byles, the Rev. Thos. 
Beauchamp, H. J. 
Beesley, Lawrence. 
Berg, Miss E. 

Benthan, I. 

Bateman, Robert J. 
Butler, Reginald. 
Botsford, Hull. 
Boweener, Solomon. 
Berriman, William. 
Clarke, Charles. 

Clark, Bandsman. 
Corey, Mrs. 

Carter, Rev. Ernest. 
Carter, Mrs. 

Coleridge, Reginald. 
Chapman, Charles. 
Cunningham, Alfred. 
Campbell, William. 
Coliyer, Harvey. 
Corbett, Mrs. Irene. 
Chf man, John R. 
Chapman, Mrs. E. 
Colander, Erie. 
Cotterill, Harry. 
Charles, Wm. (prob 
ably reported saved| 
as Wm. Charles). 
Deacon, Percy. 

Davis, Charles (marl 
be reported saved asj 
John Davies). 
Debben, William. 

De Brits, Jose. 
Danborny, H. 

Drew, James. 

Drew, Master M. 
David, Master J. W. 
Duran, Miss A. 
Dounton, W. J. 


Del Vario, S. 

Del Vario, Mrs. 
Enander, Ingvar. 
Eitmiller, G. F. 

Frost, A. 

Fynnery, Mr. 
Faunthrope, H. 
Fillbrook, C. 

[Funk, Annie. 
[Fahlstrom, A. 

Fox, Stanley N. 
Greenberg, S. 

Giles, Ralph. 

Gaskell, Alfred. 
Gillespi, William. 
Gilbert, William. 

Gall, Harry. 

Gall, S. 

[Gill, John. 

[Giles, Edgar. 

Giles, Fred. 

[Gale, Harry. 

Gale, Phadruch. 
[Garvey, Lawrence. 
Hickman, Leonard. 
Hickman, Lewis. 
Hume, bandsman. 
[Hickman, Stanley. 
Hood, Ambrose. 
IHodges, Henry P. 
Hart, Benjamin. 
lHarris, Walter. 

.rper, John, 
arper, Nina. 

Harbeck, W. n. 
Hoffman, Mr. 

Hoffman, Child. 
Hoffman, Child. 
German, Mrs. S. 
Howard, B. 

Howard, Mrs. E. T. 
Hale, Reginald. 
Hamatainen, A., and 
infant son (probably 
reported saved as 
Anna Hamlin). 
[Hilunen, M. 

Hunt, George. 
Jacobson, Mr. 

IJacobson, Mrs. 
Jacobson, Sydney. 
[Jeffery, Clifford. 
[Jeffery, Ernest. 


l.Tenkin, Stephen. 
[Jarvis, John D. 

I Keane, Daniel. 
[Kirkland, Rev. C. 
j Karnes, Mrs. F. G. 
IKeynaldo, Miss. 
[Krillner, J. H. 
jKrins, bandsman. 
[Knight, R. 

[Karines, Mrs. 


Pengelly, F. 

Pernot, Rene. 
Peruscbitz, the Rev. 
[Parker, Clifford. 
Paulbaum, Frank. 
Rogers, Getina (prob¬ 
ably reported saved 
as Miss E. Rogers). 
[Renouf, Peter E. 
Rogers, Harry’. 

Reeves, David. 


Kantar, Selna.* _,.. M 

Kantar, Mrs. (probablylSiemen, R. J. 
reported saved asfSjoberg, Hayden. 


Miriam Kanton.) 
Lengam, John. 
Levy, P. J. 
Lahtigan, William. 
Lauch, Charles. 
Leyson, R. W. N. 
Laroche, Joseph. 
Lamb, J. J. 
McKane, Peter. 
Milling, Jacob. 
Mantville, Joseph 


Slatter, Miss H. M. 

I 'Stanton, Ward. 
_Sinkkonen, A. (prob¬ 
ably reported saved 
as Anna Sinkkanea). 
Sword, Hans K. 
Stokes, Philip J. 
Sharp, Percival. 
Sedgwick, Mr. 

Smith, Augustus 
Sweet, George. 


Malachard Noll, (mayiSjostedt, Ernst. 

be reported saved at Toomey, Ellen (may 


Mme. Melicard). 
Mcraweck, Dr. 
Mangiovaccli, E. 
McCrae, Arthur G. 
McCrie, James M. 
McKane, Peter D. 
Mudd, Thomas. 
Mack, Mary. 
Marshall, Henry. 
Mayberg, Frank H, 
Meyer, August. 
Myles, Thomas. 
Mitchell, Henry. 
Matthews, W. J. 
Nessen, Israel. 
Nicholls, Joseph G. 
Norman, Robert D 


be reported saved as 
Ellen Formery). 
Taylor, bandsman. 
Turpin, William. 
Turpin, Mrs. Dorothy. 
Turner, John H. 
Trouneansky, M. 

1 Fervan, Mrs. A. 

[Trant, Mrs. Jesse 
(probably reported 
saved as Mrs. Jessie 
Traut). 

Veale, James. 

Wilhelm, Clias. (prob¬ 
ably reported saved 
as Chas. Williams.) 
Watson, E. 


Nasser, Nicholas (mavi Wo °dward. bondman, 
be reported saved! wlfz’ C ’ 

as Mrs N.issprl Leopo.d. 


as Mrs. Nasser). 

Otteo, Richard. 

Phillips, Robert. 

Ponesell, Martin (may 

be reported saved as Miss F. Mare.) 
M. F. Pososons). West. E. Arthur 
Pain, Dr. Alfred. 

Parkes, Frank. 


Wheadon, Edward. 
Ware, John J. 

Ware, Mrs. (may be 
reported saved as 


West, E. Arthur. 
Wheeler, Edwin. 
Wenman, Samuel. 


THIRD CLASS—STEERAGE 


Allum, Owen. 
Alexander, William. 
Adams, ,T. 

Alfred, Evan. 

Allen, William. 
Akar, Nourealain. 
Assad, Said. 

Alice, Agnes. 
Abbing, Anthony. 
Aks, Tilly. 

Attala, Malakka. 
Ayont, Bancura. 
Ahmed, Ali. 
Alhomalci, Ilmari. 
Ali, William. 
Anders, Gustafson. 
Assam. Ali. 


Asin, Adola. 
Anderson, Albert. 
Anderson, Ida. 
Anderson, Thor. 
Aronson, Ernest. 
Ahlin, Johanna. 
Anderson, Anders, 
family. 

Anderson, Carl. 
Anderson, Samuel. 
Andressen, Paul. 
Augustan, Albert. 
Abelsett, Olai. 
Adelselli, Karen. 
Adolf, Humblin. 
Anderson, Erna. 
Angheloff, Minko. 


Arnold, Josef. 

Arnold, Josephine. 
Asplund, J ohan. 

Braun, Lewis. 

Braun, Owen. 

Bowen, David, 
and Beavan, W. 

Bach ini, Zabour. 
Belmentoy, Hassef. 
Badt, Mohamet. 
Betros, Yazbeck. 

Barry, -. 

Buckley, Katharine. 
Burke, Jeremiah. 
Barton, David. 
Brocklebank, William. 
Bostandyeff, Cuentche. 


Benson, John. 

Billiard, A., and two 
children. 

Bontos, Hanna. 

Baccos, Boulos. 
Bexrous. Tannous. 
Burke, John. 

Burke, Catharine. 
Burke, Mary. 

Burns, Mary. 

Berglind, Ivar. 
pBalkie, Cerin. 
jBrobek, Carl. 
Backstrom, Karl. 
[Berglund, Hans. 
Bjorklaud, Ernest. 

Can, Ernest. 















LIST OF THE DEAD 


319 


THIRD CLASS—STEERAGE (CONTINUED) 


Crease, Ernest. 
Cohett, Gurshon. 
Coutts, Winnie, 
two children, 
Cribb, John. 

Cribb, Alice C. 
Catavelas, Vassilios. 
Caram, Catharine. 
Cannavan, P. 

Carr, Jenny. 
Chartens, David. 
Coniine, Thomas. 
Celloti, Francesco. 
Christmann, Emil. 
Coxon, Daniel. 

Corn, Harry. 

Carver, A. 

Cook. Jacob. 

Chip, Chang. 
Chauini, Georges. 
Chronopolous, D. 
Connaghton, M. 
Connors, P. 

Carls, Anderson. 
Carlsson, August. 
Coelhe, Domingo. 
Carlson, Carl. 

Coleff, Sotie. 

Coleff, Peye. 


PjEliai, Foofa. 
jEmmet, Thomas. 
andjJEcimosic, Joso. 

Edwardson, Gustave. 
Eklund, Hans. 
Ekstrom, Johan. 

Ford, Arthur. 

Ford, M., and family. 
Franklin, Charles. 

Foo, Cheong. 

Farrell, James. 

Flynn, James. 

Flynn, John. 

Foley, Joseph. 

Foley, William. 

Finote, Lingi. 

Fischer, Eberhard. 
Goodwin, F.. and fam. 
Goldsmith, F., and 
family. 

Guest, Frank. 

Green, George. 
Garfirth, John. 
Gillinski, Leslie. 
Gheorgeff, Stano. 
Ghemat, Emar. 

Gerios, Youssef. 

Gerios, Assaf. 

Ghalil, Saal 


Cor, Ivan, and family.SGallagher, Martin. 


Calic, Manda 
Colic, Peter. 
Cheskosic, Luka. 
Cacic, Gego. 

Cacie, Luka. 

Cacic, Taria. 
Carlson, Julius. 
Crescovie, Maria. 
Dugemin, Joseph. 
Dean. Bertram. 
Dorkings, Edward. 
Dennis, Samuel. 
Dennis, William. 
Drazenovic, Josef. 
Daher, Shedid. 
Daly, Eugene. 
Dwar, Frank. 
Davies, John. 
Dowdell, E. 
Davison, Thomas. 
Davison, Mary. 
Dahl, Charles. 
Drapkin, Jennie. 
Donahue, Bert. 
Doyle, Ellen. 
Dwyer, Tillie. 
Dakic, Branko. 
Danoff, Yoto. 
Dantchoff. Christo. 
Denkoff, Mitto. 
Dintcheff, Valtcho. 
Dedalic, Regzo. 
Dahlberg, Gerda. 
Demossemncker, E. 
Demossemacker, G. 
Dimic, Jovan. 

Dahl, Mauritz. 


and 


Ganavan, Mary. 
Glinagh, Katie. 

Glynn. Mary. 
Gronnestad, Daniel 
Gustafscb, Gideon. 
Goldsmith, Nathan. 
Goncalves, Mancel. 
Gustafson, Johan. 

Graf, Elin. 

Gustafson, Alfred. 
Hyman, Abraham. 
Harknett, Alice. 

Hane, Youssef, 
two children. 
Haggendon, Kate. 
Haggerty, Nora. 

Hart, Henry. 

Howard, May. 

Harmer, Abraham 
Hachini, Najib. 

Helene, Eugene. 

Healy, Nora. 

TIenery, Della. 
Hemming, Nora. 
Hansen, Claus. 

Hansen, Fanny. 
Heininan, Wendla. 
Hervonen, Helga, and 
child. 

Haas, Alaisa. 
Hakkurainen, Elin. 
Hakkurainen. Pekka 
Hankomen. Eluna. 
Hansen, Henry. 
Hendekovic, Ignaz. 
Hickkinen, Laina. 
Holm, John 


Dalbom, E., and fam.ailadman, Oscar. 


Dyker, Adolph. 
Dyker, Elizabeth. 
Everett, Thomas. 
Empuel, Ethel. 
Elsbury, James. 
Elias, Joseph. 
Elias, Joseph 
Elias, Hapuab. 


Haglund, Conrad. 
Ilaglund, Ingvald. 
Henriksson, Jenny. 
Hillstrom, Hilda. 
Holten, Johan. 

Ing, Hen. 

Iemenen, Manta. 
Ilmakangas, Pista. 


Tlmakangas, Ida. 

Ilieff, Kriste. 

Ilieflf, Ylio. 

Ivanhoff, Kanie. 
Johnson, A., and fam 
.Tamila, N., and child 
.Tenymin, Annie. 
Johnstone, W. 

Joseph, Mary. 
.Toannasr, Hanna. 
Johannessen, Berdt. 
Johannessen, Elias. 
Johansen, Nils. 
.Tohanson, Oscar. 
Johansson, Gustav. 
Johkoff, Lazer. 
Johnson, E., and fam 
Johnson, Jakob. 
.Tohnsson, Nils. 

Jansen, Carl. 

Jardin, Jose. 

Jensen, Hans. 
Johansson, Eric. 
•Tussiia, Eric. 

Jutel, Henry. 

'ohnsson, Carl. 

Jusila, Katrina. 

Jusila, Maria. 

Keefe, Arthur. 

Kassen, Housseni. 
Karurn, F., and child 
Kelly, Anna. 

Kelly, James. 

Kennedy, John. 
Kerane, Andy. 

Kelley, James. 

Keeni, Fahim. 

Khalil, Lahia. 

Kiernan, Philip. 
Kiernan, John. 
Kilgannon, Theo. 
Kakic, Tido. 

Karajis, Milan. 
Karkson, Einar. 
Kalvig, Johannes. 
King, Vin., and fam. 
Kallio, Nikolai. 
Karlson, Nils. 

Klasson, K., two chil. 
Lovell. John. 

Lob, William. 

Lobb, Cordelia. 

Lester, James. 
Litbman, Simon. 
Leonard, I. 
Lemberopolous, P. 
Lakarian, Orsen. 

Lane, Patrick. 

Lennon, Dennis. 

Lam, Ah. 

Lam, Len. 

Lang, Fang. 

Ling, Lee. 

Lockyer, Edward. 
Latife, Maria. 

Lennon, Mary. 
Lineban, Michael. 
Leinenen, Antti. 
Lindell, Edward. 
Lindoll, Elin. 
Lindqvist. Vine. 
Larson, Viktor. 
Lefebre, F., and fam. 
Lindblom, August. 
Lulic, Nicola. 

Lundal, Hans. 


Lundstrcm, Jan. 
Lyntakoff, Stanke. 
Laudegren, Aurora. 
Laitinen, Sotia. 
Larsson, Bengt. 
Lasson, Edward. 
Lindahl, Anna. 
Lundin, Olga. 

Moore, Leonard. 
Mackay, George. 

Meek, Annie. 

Mikalsen, Sander, 
liles, Frank. 

Tiles, Frederick. 
Morley, William. 
McNamee, Neal. 
iMcNamee, Elleu. 
Meanwell, Marian. 
Meo, Alfonso. 

Maisner, Simon. 
Murdlin, Joseph 
Moore, Belle. 

Moor, Meier. 

Maria, Joseph. 
Mantour, Mousea. 
Moncarek, O., 2 chil, 
McElroy, Michael. 
McGowan, Katharine. 

McMahon, -. 

McMahon, Martin. 
Madigan, Maggie. 
Manion, Margaret. 
Meehan, John. 
Mocklare, Ellis. 
Moran, James. 
Mulvihill, Bertha. 
Murphy, Kate. 
Mikanen, John. 
Meikebuk, PhilemoUc 
Mernis, Leon. 

Midtsjo, Carl. 
Myhrman, Oliver. 
Myster, Anna. 
Makinen, Kale. 
Mustafa, Nasr. 

Mike, Anna. 

Mustmaiis, Fatina, 
Martin, Johan. 
Malinoff, Nicola. 
McCoy. Bridget. 
Markoff, Martin. 
Marinko, Dimitri. 
Mineff, Ivan. 

Minkoff, Iazar. 

Mirko, Dika. 

Mitkoff, Nitto. 

Moen, Sigurd. 
Nancarror, William. 
Nomagh, Robert. 
Nakle, Trotik. 

Naked, Maria. 
Nosworthy, Richard. 
Naughton, Hannah. 
Norol, Manseur. 

* Niels,-. 

Nillson, Herta. 
iNyoven, Johan. 
iNaider.off, Penke. 
jNankoff, Minko. 
jNedelic, Petroff. 
jNenkoff, Christie. 
jNilsou, August. 

|Nirva, Isak. 
INandewalle, Nestor. 
jO’Brien, Dennis. 
iO’Brien, Haaca. 












T 


*320 


list of the dead 

THIRD CLASS—STEERAGE (CONTINUED) 


O’Brien. Thomas. 
O’Donnell. Patrick. 
Odele, Catharine. 
O’Connor, Patrick. 
O’Neill, Bridget. 

Olsen, Carl. 

Olsen, Ole. 

Olson, Elin. 

Olson, John. 

Ortin, Amin. 

Odahl, Martin. 

Olman, Velin. 

Olsen. Henry. 

Olman, Mara. 

Olsen, Elide. 

Orescovic, Teko. 
Pedrnzzi, Joseph. 
Perkin, John. 

Pearce, Ernest. 
Peacock, T., two chil. 
Potchett, George. 
Peterson. Marius. 
Peters, Katie. 
Paulsson, A., anrl fam. 
Panula, M., and fam. 
Pekonami, E. 
Peltomaki, Miheldi. 
Pacruic, Mate. 
Pacruic, Tamo. 
Pastche, Petroff. 
Pietcharsky, Vasil. 
Palovic, Vtefo. 
Petranec, Matilda. 
Person, Ernest. 

Pasic, Jacob. 

Phmke, Jules. 
Peterson, Ellen. 
Peterson, Olaf. 
Peterson. Wobn. 
Rouse, Richard. 

Rush. Alfred. 


Rogers, William. 
Reynolds, Harold. 
Riordan, Hannah. 
Ryan, Edward. 

Rainch, Razi. 

Roufoul, Aposetun. 
Read, Jdmes. 

Robins, Alexander. 
;Robins, Charity. 
Risian, Samuel. 
|Risian, Emua. 
iRunnestvet, Kristian. 
[Randeff, Alexandre. 
Rintamaki, Matti. 
Rosblom, H., and fam 
jRidegain, Charles. 
Sadowitz, Harry. 
[Saundercock, W. 
Shellark, Frederi.k. 
Sage, Jno., and fam 
■Sawyer, Frederick. 
jSpinner, Henry. 
Shorney, Charles. 
Sarkis, Lahound. 
Sultani, Meme. 
Stankovic, Javan. 
Salini, Antoni. 

Seman, Betros. 
Sadlier, Matt. 
Scanlon, James. 
Shaughnessay, P. 
Simmons, John. 
Serota, Maurice. 
Somerton, F. 
Slocovski, Selmen. 
Sutchall, Henry. 
Sather, Simon. 

Storey, T. 

Spector, Woolf. 
Sirayman, Peter. 
Samaan, Jouseef. 


iSaiide, Barbara. 

|Saad, Divo. 

■Sarkis, Madiresian. 
jShine. Ellen. 

Sullivan, Bridget. 
Salander, Carl. 
Sepelelanaker, Alfons. 
Skog, Win., and fam. 
Solvang, Lena. 
Stranberg, Ida. 
Strilik, Ivan. 

Salonen, Ferner. 

Sivic, Husen. 

Svenson, Ola. 

Svedst, 


Sandman. Mohan. 
S.ljilsvick, Anna. 
'Ichelp, Peter. 

"iivola, Antti. 
Slabenofif, Peter. 
Staneff, Ivan. 

Stoytcho, MikoCf. 
Stoyte off. Ilia. 
Sydcoff. Todor. 
Sandstrom. Agnes, and 
two children. 
Sheerlidch, Joan. 
Smiljanik, Mile. 

Strom, E., and child. 
Svensson, John. 
Swensson, Edw’in. 
Tobin, Roger. 
Thomson, Alex. 
Theobald, Thomas. 
Tomlin, Ernest. 
Thorntycroft, P. 
Thorneycroft, F. 
Torber, Ernest. 
Trembisky, Berk. 
Tilley, Edward. 
Tamini, Hillon, 


(Tannans, Daper. 
-n homas, John. 

'homas, Charles, 
'homas, Tannous. 

'umin, T., and infant. 
Jikkanen, Juho. 
iTonglin, Gunner. 
Turoin, Stefan. 

Turgo, Anna. 
iTedoreff, Ialie. 

Usher, Haulmer. 

Yzelas, Jose. 

Vander and family. 
Vereruysse, Victor. 
Vjoblora, Anna. 
Vaciens, Adulle. 
Vandersteen, Leo. 
Vanimps, J., and fam. 
Vatdevehde, Josep. 
Williams, Harry. 
Williams, Leslie. 

Ware, Frederick. 
Warren, Charles. 
Waika, Said. 

Wazli, Jousef. 
Wiseman, Philip. 
Wcrber, James. 
Windelor, Einar. 
Weller, Edward. 
Wennerstrom, August 
Wendal, Olaf. 

Wistrom, Huus- 
7/iklund, Jacob. 
Wikluud, Carl. 

Wenzel, Zinhart. 

Wirz, Albert. 
Wittewrongel, Camille. 
Youssef, Brahim. 
Yalsevac, Ivan. 
Zakarian, Mapri. 
Zleven3, Rene. 
Zimmerman, Leo. 



♦The 3° pages of illustrations contained in this book are not included in the pag¬ 
ing. ' Adding tne 32 pages to the 320 pages of text makes a total of 352 pages. 

















































































